Villains
by Brainlock
Summary: Yet another AU of v3: Villains. What happens when a betrayal spins plans out of control? Allegiances will change, some will live, some will die, and one surprise will affect everything. Canon to 3.5, then AU. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 5 Monsters and Angels

**HEROES: Villains **

**ch.5 - Monsters and Angels**

**Disclaimer: just playing with Tim Kring's toys. I own nothing.**

**A/N: many Heroes fans were bothered by the throwaway murder of Adam by Arthur. I got to thinking: what if Arthur's plan went awry and Adam, well, that would spoil this chapter and the rest to come! Canon up to 3.5, then AU starts taking over.**

**-**

**Angela Petrelli hadn't realized she had dozed off. She found herself walking down the halls of PrimaTech, but she knew something wasn't right.**

**Then she heard the scream of a familiar voice.**

**She opened the doorway and found a massacre. Everyone she had loved and known lay strewn about, dead. She knew it had to be one of her dreams portending great danger to them all.**

**She walked down the hall, surveying the carnage until she heard her granddaughter struggling. She saw the man known as Knox holding the girl against the wall. Then he tore her head off as it was nothing.**

**A sound behind her made her turn. Adam Monroe stood there with Maury Parkman, smiling darkly. A blonde woman stood between them. It looked like the recently departed Niki Sanders, whom she knew Maury had manipulated into almost killing Bob Bishop before he had been stopped by his own son, Matt. She also knew this wasn't the woman Daniel Linderman had blackmailed into becoming a brief lover of her son, Nathan, but one of her sisters.**

**Knox joined the trio and she felt someone step up behind her. The serial killer known as Sylar grabbed her from behind, smiling.**

**She woke up, stifling a scream.**

**-**

"**How do you feel about recruiting?"**

"**Recruiting for what?" Daphne asked, nonplussed.**

"**An organization for a new world order," the man who called himself Daniel Linderman replied, motioning to a stack of files at his side.**

**-**

"**Someone is manipulating us, someone powerful," she informed the young son of her one time lover, Kaito. "And they must be stopped."**

"**I will find them and stop them," Hiro declared.**

"**Actually, you're the only one who can," she told him.**

**-**

**The duo had spent the last few hours digging up the grave, and now had reached the moment of truth. Hiro opened the casket and looked down at the body of the blond man he had left there. A man he had once idolized as Takezo Kensei, but who had turned on him and killed his father after 400 years of waiting for revenge.**

**Adam's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed Hiro by the neck. **

"**Hiro, you little--" **

"**I need your help!" he choked out.**

**SLAM!**

"**Formula?!" he laughed. "I knew that would come back to bite them in the ass some day." He considered what they said a moment. "Even I told them to destroy it," he lied.**

"**So you know who would steal it?" Ando asked.**

"**Maybe," he replied, regarding this unknown friend of Hiro. "If I tell you, what's in it for me?"**

**After a little debate and shaky promises (Adam had to laugh at his own 'Japanese Nazi" snipe), Adam Monroe had promised to help them find this missing Formula and the person who Adam surmised had haunted Angela's dreams, since it was she who had sent the pair after the immortal. She had been against injecting her firstborn, but not others. If she was sending these two to find the Formula, she didn't know who was after it, either. That left three people. One he had already killed.**

**Adam lead them to the Angry Skunk bar, where other Specials could be hired under the table, which Hiro immediately likened to the Cantina from Star Wars. The reference was pretty much lost on Adam, not having had the chance to see the movie before his incarceration, thirty years prior.**

**What the pair didn't realize was that Adam had been to the bar during his brief reprieve from his cell. In fact, he apparently had bedded the bartender, Milosh's wife, and the man held a grudge these last few weeks.**

**At least, that is what Hiro and Ando were lead to believe as the large man chased their blond associate out the back. In fact, Milosh was one of Adam's newer followers. The pair had actually worked out a brief code in case Adam needed a quick escape. **

**Adam hid in a dumpster in the back alley until he was sure the young duo had left. Unsanitary, but sufficient for the task at hand. Clothes could be replaced, he thought as he pulled himself out of his predicament only to face another one.**

**A black man suddenly stepped out from behind another dumpster. Before he could react, the man had knocked Adam cold and tossed him into his van. After calling his superior and inquiring of the other two men, Benjamin "Knox" Washington went on with his present duties. He hog-tied Adam, gagging him to make sure he stayed quiet while he waited for his partner to show up.**

**-**

"**You're just going to have to trust me, Nathan," Linderman enthused. "You must help her." Nathan knew there was something wrong about the man, but still did as he was told, saving Tracy Strauss from jumping into the Potomac, and then bedding her after she admitted what had happened to her of late.**

**A few hours later, Nathan woke up thirsty. He wasn't really surprised to see his visitor had returned and called him out on his ghostly status and demanding answers. Linderman suggested he was from a higher power, which Nathan doubted he was "a messenger from God." **

"**Moses saw a burning bush. Mary heard the angels," he mused. "God came to Samuel in his dreams."**

"**And I've got a dead mobster telling me he's the voice of God," Nathan retorted.**

"**You think the answers are outside of you, Nathan, but God resides within," he advised. "The answers will come."**

**Before Nathan could reply, Tracy entered the room. Linderman had once more vanished, so he fumbled a lame excuse to her. She didn't buy it.**

**Later that morning, they argued about their next step. She wanted to turn herself in for murder, even if she had to publicly expose her powers to do it. He countered with his fatal press conference, telling her that their abilities were a gift from God. She told him he was wrong, that they came "from a doctor in Reseda." He had no idea what to say to that.**

**-**

**Meanwhile, Angela had nearly been killed by her youngest returned from a future with Sylar's Hunger growing inside of him, only to be saved by Sylar, whom she had convinced was her middle child, before he had been sent away. She then let him accompany Noah Bennet to reacquire one of the men he had freed from Level 5, earlier. **

**When her eldest came to her looking for answers, she was momentarily taken aback by his companion, the blonde woman from her dream. When Nathan informed her of Tracy's identity, she had been glad she had read up on the Triplets that Dr. Zimmerman had injected, especially after the good doctor had called, informing them that Ms. Strauss had just paid him a visit.**

**When threatened with exposure by Tracy, neither were amused to hear "Zimmerman was instrumental in the Company's development of synthetic abilities." Angela admitted what had happened to the Triplets...and Nathan.**

"**We were trying to be better than God," Angela explained as she showed them the paperwork proving what had happened. He protested. "Your father was disappointed that you weren't born with the genetic code, but we thought, because of your lineage, your system could handle it," she continued. "And obviously we were right."**

"**Then what about me?" Tracy accused. "My parents were dead. I had no one to protect me."**

**Angela debated telling her the real truth, but instead opted on something the woman could more easily accept. "Tracy, what the Company did to you in the name of science was wrong. We know that now," she apologized. "And that is why we divided the Formula and hid it, so this would never happen again," she explained, rising from her seat.**

"**An innocent man is dead because of what you did to me."**

"**Then help me," she implored. "Because someone has stolen the Formula. They want to restart this project. They want to create a world filled with dangerous people. Deadly, out of control. They will destroy everything." She stood in front of Nathan as Tracy walked away. "Please help me stop them."**

"**Go to hell," her son told her and turned away.**

"**Nathan, it's why Peter took Sylar's ability. It's why he sacrificed himself," she begged, following him across the room. "He knows what's going to happen to this world. You do not understand." She knew she was losing him.**

**Nathan threw her words back at her, accusing, "You did experiments on me and God knows who else. Peter? Claire? Who else did you use as your own personal guinea pig?" He turned and left the room.**

**Angela called after him. "Nathan, listen to me. Nathan."**

**The door slammed in answer.**

**She knew what would happen, now. It was all a matter of time. They were headed to Mohinder Suresh for help. Suresh, however, had been found out by his new lover, Maya Herrera, and trapped her in cocoon as he did his abusive neighbor for experimentation.**

**-**

**Noah Bennet tried to force his quarry, Stephen Canfield into eliminating Sylar within one of his vortexes. Canfield refused, exclaiming, "I won't be a monster!" before jumping into a vortex over Claire Bennet's protests. Sylar would later point out that Noah had used them all that day, making him the real monster. Claire couldn't argue his logic, lying to her father she understood what he did.**

**-**

**Knox kept a low profile as the two men returned to the bar while he waited for that fine looking petite speedster, Millbrook, to show up with their instructions. Nakamura claimed they were 'bad asses', now, and wanted to join their gang. Daphne informed him he had to prove himself worthy. Knox knew better and ordered him to kill his powerless friend to prove himself for his initiation. After surprised outbursts and an apparent moment's hesitation from Nakamura and Millbrook, the bespectacled man apologized to his friend and did as he was told, stabbing him with a cavalry sword Knox had pulled from the bar wall. Satisfied, Knox decided to return to headquarters with his primary quarry, Adam Monroe.**

**-**

**Claire's birth mother, Meredith Gordon, having gone after escapee Eric Doyle, now found herself under his sway, forced into dining with him and even kissing him against her will.**

**-**

**Angela had nodded off again at her desk. A woman's scream woke her. She found herself opening that same hall door again, but the hall remained lit, unlike the previous massacre dream. She saw the Strauss woman lying dead, throat slit. Near her, Nathan sat slumped against the wall, head sliced. Peter stood nearby, hands bloody, before dropping to the floor, a pipe lodged in the back of his skull.**

**She turned and saw a face she thought she would never see again. "Hello, Angela," Arthur greeted her. "You can see the future. I can't have that, it's too dangerous," he informed her, stepping closer.**

"**No, you won't succeed," she defied her supposedly late husband. "I'll stop you."**

"**Don't be ridiculous," he replied, reaching for her shoulder with a bloody hand. "You won't even be able to move." She felt her body grow stiff and glared at him. Just before she woke, she saw two familiar figures behind him. She couldn't believe her eyes as she saw them approach Arthur from behind, menace in their eyes.**

**Her eyes snapped open. She heard his words echo again as she found herself unable to move, slumped on her desk over the folder of her late husband in front of her that she had been reading. She was unsure if it really was him in the dream or a trick by another associate.**

**-**

**Daphne Millbrook returned to Pinehearst for her next assignment ahead of her partner, stopping outside the building.**

"**You're late. Have you completed your task?" her boss asked her, passing by on the darkened sidewalk.**

"**They're on board. Even the Japanese guy," she informed him as he crossed to the benches by the building. She knew she had to say something. "I'm not happy about what happened. That's not what I signed up for. I'm not a killer," she protested, following him.**

"**Well, it's all part of making the world a better place, Daphne," he admonished her, sitting down. "No pain, no gain."**

**He considered his next words carefully, not wanting to bring him up. "There's another one you're going to have to recruit," he informed her. "I'm afraid he's going to be the most difficult," he warned her with just a hint of sadness.**

**She frowned and picked up the folder, opening it to see a uniformed policeman staring back at her. **_**Kinda cute**_**, she thought. **_**I hope he's not one of those sleazoids on the take like other creeps I'm being sent after.**_

**The man smirked. **

"**Matt Parkman? What's his thing?" she asked.**

"**He has the ability to alter your mind," he explained. "Put thoughts into your head. Make you see things that aren't there." He glanced to the spritely girl.**

"**Speaking of which," she countered, "I finally figured out what's been bugging me about you."**

**He gave her a knowing, impressed smirk as she stood. **_**About time**_**, he mused. **

"**I'm fast. Real fast. I can sneak up on everybody," she told him. "But I can't sneak up on you."**

**He smiled. Stood, and waited for her next move. She took a wide arc with the folder in her hand, slashing through his body.**

**It passed through and she gasped.**

"**I knew it," he exclaimed. "You're not really there."**

**He smirked again. "It's not really your concern, Daphne," he admonished her. "Just bring me Parkman," he said solemnly.**

**She got the hint he wasn't happy about this new situation as she shoved the file into her bag. "I guess I really don't have a choice, do I?"**

**He frowned as she walked away. She stopped and looked back only to see he was no longer there. **_**Had he even been there to begin with?**_** she wondered as she ran off.**

**Maury Parkman stepped out as she disappeared in a blur. He hoped this turn of events didn't ruin the plan. He proceeded inside to update his boss. Time to get your game face on, he told himself, steeling his mind as he entered his boss' room. Dr. Livitz was bustling about, as always.**

"**The team is coming together nicely," he boasted.**

_**Everything is proceeding as planned? What of my son?**_

"**Everything went fine, perfect with Nathan," he explained nervously. "I messed with his head, gave him visions of Linderman, just like you asked. Now he thinks he's doing God's work."**

_**Good. And he believes you? He believes Linderman is real? **_

"**Yes. Very real."**

_**And the other part of the plan? **_

"**Daphne is spreading the word. We're building an army, just like you...."**

_**What about Adam? Where is he? Do we have him yet?**_

"**Sorry. Knox called just a few minutes ago. He'll have Adam Monroe here by tomorrow."**

_**Excellent. I can't wait to proceed.**_

"**Right. Absolutely. Whatever you say goes, Mr. Petrelli," he agreed before nodding and stepping back out, still careful to keep his mental walls up. **_**Then the plan will truly begin**_**, he thought.**

**-**

**Matt Parkman's mind was on his recent experience as he pushed the trolley with his new spirit guide through the terminal. He hadn't liked to use his powers to get back home, but speed was of the essence now, he thought ironically as he glanced down to his new companion.**

**-**

**When Knox returned to Pinehearst with Adam, the older Englishman who had recruited him with a shiny new car and beautiful girls in a stretch Humvee limo met him in the lobby.**

"**Well, someone took their fine time," he quipped.**

"**We had things to take care of, old man," Knox shot back.**

"**My, such an attitude," Daniel Linderman replied caustically. "Manners have all but died out, haven't they? And after all I did for you?" he asked.**

"**Weren't none of them bitches really interested in this," Knox said with disgust at how easily he had fallen into the man's employ.**

"**If you say so," he replied with a chuckle, looking at his former leader, Adam. "And how are you, this evening, Adam?"**

"**Daniel?" Adam said in apprehension. "I was to understand you had died?"**

**Daniel Linderman smiled. "As they say, rumors of my death have been reported in error."**

**Adam looked at his former follower for a moment, eyes narrowing. "Mazel Tov, then."**

"**Hm," Linderman grunted in response. He motioned to the elevators. "This way, gentlemen. Go on up, I'll be along in a moment," he smiled.**

**Adam and Daniel eyed each other as the immortal passed. Knox escorted him to their destination. He wasn't much for talking, so Adam took the initiative.**

"**You've heard of me, right? Adam Monroe?" he inquired. "I'm guessing you have some sort of special ability. What is it?"**

"**I get strong off other people's fear," he replied.**

"**Ah," he mused. "I'm not afraid."**

**A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination. Knox threw Adam to the floor, nearly missing Dr. Livitz.**

"**Seriously, you're wasting your time!" Adam protested.**

**Knox nodded at someone behind Adam. He slowly looked up to see an ornate bed occupied by a familiar face. One he hadn't seen in years, despite the fact there was a variety of tubes and wires strewn around the man. His right hand rested on a pillow, his signet ring still proudly on display, as usual.**

**Adam was slightly impressed. And curious. "Arthur? I heard you were dead." A familiar tickling in his head.**

_**Long time no see, Adam. Now that you're here, you have something I need, **_**he said, ominously.**

"**Wait. No. No!" Adam protested as Knox flexed in the doorway, feeding off his growing fear of what it was Arthur wanted from him. He tried to make a break for it, but Knox easily grabbed him and brought him back to the bedside.**

"**You scared now?" he mocked.**

"**Please let me go," the immortal begged. "Arthur, no, please! I can be of use to you!"**

**Knox forced his hand down on the bed and placed Arthur's on top of it.**

"**NO!" he screamed.**

**Arthur Petrelli watched as his former mentor grew old and turned to dust before his eyes. He felt the strength return to his hands and flexed them before reaching for the breathing tube, removing it from his throat with a grunt.**

"**It feels good to breathe again," he said. **

**Then he realized he hadn't actually said anything. His throat was still dry and sore from disuse. **

**He looked to Dr. Livitz. **_**What's going on? What went wrong? **_**he demanded of the man. Livitz was standing at his monitor, staring into space. He looked to the doorway. Two men stood there, grinning broadly.**

"**Nice try, Arthur, but some people are still loyal to me," Adam said, nodding to Maury Parkman at his side.**

_**What? What happened? I took your healing factor!**_

"**Oh, you took an ability alright, just not the one you expected," Maury replied.**

**Arthur glanced to the bedside. The black strongman stood there, a look of shock and pain frozen on his face.**

"**Neither one of us is afraid of you," Adam informed him. "Not that you would have the strength to do anything about it in your condition, anyway."**

_**You can't do this to me! I'm Arthur Petrelli! I'm--**_

**Adam and Maury started to leave. Adam glanced back. "Yes. Yes, you were Arthur. Now, you're just a helpless man locked inside a prison of his own making," he replied. "Goodbye, Arthur."**

**Maury gave him a curt nod and turned to follow the blond man down the corridor.**

"**Erase the doctor's mind, put the nigger back where he came from," Adam ordered as he walked away.**

**Maury flinched at the order, but nodded his assent. "I've got to make sure the new speedster recruits her latest assignment. He should be arriving any time, now."**

**Adam tossed a casual hand over his shoulder in acknowledgement.**

**Maury glared at him for a moment, then turned to the doctor, giving him his instructions before turning to Knox. "Get your ass out of here, and don't ever come back," he pushed into the man's mind, adding a possible address he could get his bearings at if he had to. Both men left, still in a mental daze.**

**Finally, he turned to Arthur.**

"**Sorry it had to be this way," he said as he started switching off the machines. "It was fun while it lasted."**

**He turned and started to leave the room, reaching for the light switch. "I guess you should have been nicer to the rest of us, huh? You've pissed off the last of the Company Founders, made everyone else think you were dead, and trapped Angela in her own mind. You've got no one to turn to. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see my son," he said as he left.**

**Arthur began to panic, as he could feel the respirator die down. It became hard to breathe. He concentrated. **_**Use the fear**_**, he thought. **_**Make it work for you**_**. Adam had said they weren't afraid of him, mentioned strength. **_**Was that the black man's power, fear into strength? **_**The Company had come across weirder abilities over the years. He embraced his panic, building his own strength as he did. He hoped this would work. He never found telekinesis useful, not when he could do things with his own two hands.**

**He heard a barely audible click. The respirator clicked back on.**

_**I can work with this**_**, he thought with a hint of triumph.**

**TBC_________**


	2. Chapter 6 Occurrances

HEROES: Villains

ch.6 - Occurances

Disclaimer: just playing with Tim Kring's toys. I own nothing.

A/N: many Heroes fans were bothered by the throwaway murder of Adam by Arthur. I got to thinking: what if Arthur's plan went awry and Adam--well, that would spoil this chapter and the rest to come! Canon up to 3.5, then AU. Assume other arcs hold true canon until I alter them.

-

_Previously: Matt Parkman found himself transported to Botswana, Africa by someone he presumed to be his friend, Peter Petrelli. He was found by a tortoise and the painter shaman, Usutu, who showed Matt he had been painting the man his whole life, including his future. "This must be my future-future," Matt guessed, seeing the portrait of himself and a young blonde holding their baby. _

"_The future has changed," Usutu informed him before going into a trance and repainting the portrait into Matt cradling the woman dying in his arms. He then gave Matt a paste to eat, which gave him a vision of what happened to them in that future. _

_In the vision, Matt saw himself married to the woman, raising Molly Walker and their new baby, Daniella. He woke exclaiming, "Her name's Daphne. I've got to find her." Usutu urged him to find his spirit guide to find his path, so Matt followed the tortoise that had found him earlier back to civilization._

_Tracy Strauss and Nathan Petrelli have shared their abilities with one another, Nathan urged on by the deceased Daniel Linderman, Tracy out of guilt over the accidental killing of a reporter. They now seek out the help of Mohinder Suresh after learning that their abilities were not natural like many others, but the result of a genetic experiment by the Company and their now-amnesiac former employee, expatriated German scientist, Jonas Zimmerman._

_Unknown to them, Suresh has injected himself with a formula based on the deadly pheromones of Maya Herrera, giving him great strength and agility, but also causing an unexpected mutation, leaving scales and lesions covering his body. He has also taken captive a violent neighbor and Maya, herself, cocooning both in his lab for experimentation._

_Recruiting with Daphne, Knox forced Hiro Nakamura to stab and kill his powerless friend, Ando Masahashi, to gain his trust. It was a deception on Hiro's part, and has caused Daphne to question her role in events. She left him with the assignment to recruit Matt's precognitive mentor, Usutu._

_Claire Bennet tried her hand at recapturing a supposed "villain" that escaped from PrimaTech during Sylar's assault. Stephen Canfield was able to convince her he wasn't dangerous, but then apparently committed suicide by jumping into one of his vortexes to escape and being forced to kill again by Noah Bennet. Elsewhere, Meredith Gordon went in search of another escapee, Eric Doyle, the puppet master, in hopes of preventing Claire's capture, but found herself once again at the mercy of the large man. _

_Meanwhile, Angela Petrelli has had a vision of her supposedly late husband Arthur, still alive, and found herself paralyzed by him in the dream and in real life. Arthur's plan for resurrection by stealing the regenerative ability of his former mentor, Adam Monroe, has backfired due to the abused trust he placed in his friend, Maury Parkman. Adam has now co-opted Arthur's plans for world domination, seeking revenge for thirty years of imprisonment. However, this deception has had unforeseen consequences, unbeknownst to Arthur's betrayers._

-

Maury Parkman made it to the terminal just as his son's plane was disembarking. The petite speedster had yet to show up. No matter, he could easily cause Matt a few delays until she arrived.

He scanned his boy's mind, just to make--well, now. He was already aware of Daphne? How? His mind kept reviewing what he had seen in Africa. Some sort of vision quest where he saw the future, and he was married to the girl? They had their own little girl?

_What the hell happened to Janice? _Maury thought as a blonde and gray blur ran past him. He concentrated on her a moment as he pretended to make a phone call. He glanced over to see she was reviewing the file on Matt. She was thinking thoughts that weren't going to jibe with his plan. _Great_. A quick scan told him his son was nearing their location.

She was now thinking about Nakamura's boy and then dumped the file in the trash. _What the hell?_

"That would be a mistake, my dear," Daniel Linderman told her as 'he' stepped up behind her.

She spun around to face him, surprised to see him.

"Are we not paying you enough money?"

She frowned. "No, it's not that," she explained nervously. "Hiro Nakamura was a good guy, but we turned him into a murderer. I mean, I'm in way over my head."

He cut her off before she could say more. "Daphne, you and I have discussed this before."

"I can't do this, anymore," she pleaded.

"Oh dear. Well, that's a shame," he told her. "You've done so much for us. We've done so much for you," he informed her, his voice growing ominous. "So much that we couldn't do for you anymore if you were to leave."

She considered his words.

He smiled. "Let's keep this little lapse of judgment to ourselves, shall we?"

She nodded, but rolled her eyes as she turned to dig the files out of the trash.

Maury gave another quick scan, noticing his son was nearing their position. He glanced up to the next level and fought a chuckle at what he saw. Instead, he brought it to her attention. "Look! There's your next assignment."

She glanced up to see a sun burnt Matt at the top of the escalator, with a cage in his hands. She turned to ask Linderman what his deal was, but he was gone.

Maury thought it best to observe from another location further away in case his son somehow slipped past his slight push to ignore him. _Sorry, Matty, but it has to be this way_, he thought. _And what the hell was up with the turtle? _He wondered as he slipped away.

"Okay, turtle, you got me home," Matt found himself saying to the tortoise he had carried through customs. "So now we just need to find Daphne, save her life, get her to fall in love with me." He shrugged to himself at the thought of the task ahead. "So you just give me a sign."

Then he realized what he was doing. "I can't believe I'm talking to a turtle," he rolled his eyes. As he refocused on the floor below, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was _her_, and she was looking right at _him_.

"High five, turtle."

He suddenly couldn't wait to get off the escalator. Neither took their eyes off the other as he felt like he would burst if he didn't say something before she could speed away.

"Daphne?" he asked, afraid this was still part of the spirit walk, dream quest, or whatever.

She gave him a queer look. "How do you know who I am?" she asked.

This took him by surprise as a million thoughts raced through his mind. "Um, It's actually kind of complicated," he stammered. "Um, lucky guess," he offered, smiling at her while she eyed the turtle.

"Can we go somewhere and talk?" she finally asked.

"Yeah, uh, yeah," he blurted out, eager to get to know her again for the first time.

-

Elsewhere, Mohinder Suresh opened his door to Nathan Petrelli and someone he initially believed to be Niki Sanders, but was corrected to find out it was her twin, Tracy Strauss. They revealed to him she was given her ability by a "Dr. Zimmerman", who he was clueless about, but eager to study the effects on her.

All she wanted to know was, "Can you remove it?"

Too eager, they would soon find out. "Oh, I have a feeling we can be of great assistance to each other," he replied, his sudden earnestness making them uneasy.

-

"These people know things," Daphne told Matt.

"Pinehearst?"

"They know how you struggled as a cop in LA to protect and serve, but that wasn't enough for you, was it?"

Matt briefly wondered who had been surveilling him, and for how long? Since Bennet and the Haitian kidnapped him? Longer? Now that he had an idea of what his father had been up to, it could have been his whole life!

Still, she was right, he had to agree. "No. No, it wasn't."

"They know how you've been waiting your whole life just to be somebody," she continued, unenthused.

Matt realized this. "Sounds to me like you're not buying your own pitch," he asked her.

She avoided his gaze. "No, I am," she lied. "I just got a lot of appointments today," she said, fussing with her bag. "So are you in or out?"

He couldn't stop thinking about his future with her, and fumbled at the question. "Uh, um, so this-this isn't about us?" he motioned between them.

"Us?"

"Yeah."

She frowned, wondering what the hell he was talking about. "Uh, no. Sorry."

Matt was put out. He hadn't really expected her to know they would wind up together and had just made a fool of himself.

Breaking the awkward silence, she had to know, "Who told you my name?"

"No one," he sighed and turned to her in a whispered voice, "I had this dream about the future. But it wasn't a dream, it was real," he explained. "And you and I were..." He paused, knowing how crazy he was going to sound. "We were married. And I know about your speed ability," he continued, as she slowly began to freak out. This only drove him on, he had to explain himself before she bolted. "And we had this beautiful baby girl and this pet turtle," he motioned to the cage, "and we were _so_ happy. We're soul mates. I came here looking for you and what did I find? You are waiting for me. I mean, that's got to count for something, right?"

She opened her mouth, but was unsure how to get away from him. "Um, This is getting kinda stalky," she told him. "So I gotta go," she stood to leave.

Matt panicked, he had to convince her here and now they were meant to be. "No, no, no, wait a second. Wait a second," he implored her.

She didn't want to hear it. "Look, the address is on the card if you're interested."

"We named out baby Daniella!" he blurted out as she sped away.

She returned a half-second later.

"After your grandmother," he informed her.

Daphne was completely weirded out. "How did you know--"

"Because I'm telling you the truth."

She swallowed. She couldn't take much more of this. "Look, I have a bunch of stuff to do today, but can you wait here?"

"Here?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah." He plopped his hands on the table.

"I'll be back. Don't go anywhere."

"Okay," he said, beaming. She nodded and ran off. The guy behind him glanced over to see what just happened, but Matt figured what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. He looked down to the turtle, tapped the cage. "Huh?" he said triumphantly, crossing his arms in pride.

He wondered how long she was going to be gone. And where the hell is the food court, anyway? His stomach rumbled.

-

Mohinder Suresh stood there smugly as Tracy Strauss dropped to the floor. Nathan realized Suresh had duped them. He charged at the man, forcing himself to focus. He missed and tore through the plastic curtain into the other room and fell to the floor. He looked up to see two cocoons attached to the wall as he blacked out.

-

Daphne sped into Sylar's cell, surprising him. "I'm springing you out. You're Sylar, right? You have places to be. Let's get going." He noticed another man waiting outside in the same drab garb of the other prisoners. He questioned who she worked for and why. "Because you're a killer. For some reason, you're important to him," she replied. "I don't ask questions like that," she confessed. "Now come on."

"I'm not a killer anymore," he told her, pinning her to the door, telekinetically. "And you're not going anywhere."

"I'm on your side!" she exclaimed. "Can't you see they're trying to change you in here? Make you into something that you're not," she asked.

"You don't know anything about me!"

"But the man I work for does," she protested. "He likes you the way you are." He seemed to consider this, relaxing his grip on her. She quickly placed a card in his hand and joined the other man in the hall. He glanced at the Pinehearst card. "So you know where to find us," she told him. "We're going." She then sped off, taking the other man in tow.

Sylar went to wake up Peter, rousing him and freeing him from his sedation. Peter was awake almost instantly, protesting Sylar gave him the Hunger, making him a monster like him. Sylar countered, he was trying to be different, saying he believed he was able to control the Hunger, so Peter could, too.

This seemed to get Peter's attention, saying Sylar had changed in the future, suppressing the Hunger. This gave Sylar hope, knowing that he could accomplish this, but he then revealed that Angela was in trouble and needed their help.

-

Hiro and Ando arrived at Usutu's camp, noting a painting of a man crying over a woman looked familiar. Ando shrugged it off, before questioning their task, kidnapping an inoocent man. Hiro countered they weren't kidnapping, just "borrowing" him to convince the villains they were on the same side. Hiro entered the man's hut, glancing around for signs of him, but instead saw paintings of a dead Future Nathan and Costa Verde as the epicenter of a nuclear holocaust before noticing one of himself being hit in the head by a man with a shovel. He realized the paint was still wet. WHANG!

-

Upon realizing what has happened to Meredith Gordon, Sandra Bennet insisted on accompanying her daughter to rescue the other woman.

"As God as my witness, I'm going to make you love me again, Meredith," Eric Doyle told her, promising her a wedding in Fiji. When she refused in disgust, he forced her to break her wine glass and hold the shattered glass to her neck, cutting into the flesh. "You will love me, Meredith. I promise you that," he told her.

Claire decided to charge into Doyle's Marionette Theatre armed with a taser she claimed she found in her father's closet, as Canfield had eliminated the one she bought at the pawn shop, earlier. Sandra demanded they come up with a plan: she would divert his attention with a ploy of hiring Doyle for her "puppet loving six year old" Lyle up front while Claire freed Meredith from the back. Doyle didn't believe Sandra, especially when Claire made a ruckus sneaking in the back door. He forced Claire to drop her taser and held both newcomers captive.

-

Ando woke Hiro and convinced him to go back and grab Usutu before the man could whack him the first time. He wound up getting hit a second time and even getting to see himself get hit the first time before he blacked out this time.

-

Daphne returned to LAX to see Matt still waiting, expectantly. _No, too soon_, she thought.

She ran back to New York and approached Mohinder Suresh.

He questioned who she was and how she quickly ran past him into the loft. She informed him, "You know a lot about people like me. That's why they sent me to you," she answered his initial surprise, explaining they wanted "access to your research, your database, contacts." She didn't know why they wanted it, but explained "they've already figured out how to do the thing you're trying to do. To give people abilities. They need your help, you need theirs."

"Help to do what?" he asked.

"Save the world," she shrugged before reaching for another card. "Look, if you have questions, you can ask them, I'm just the messenger," she said as she heard a groan from the back room. Before he could reply, she ran back their and saw what he had done. Nathan and Tracy strapped to tables and two cocoons attached to the walls. She turned back, grousing, "Great, you're just as bad as the rest of them."

Mohinder charged her, but she left in a flash, leaving him to wonder who Pinehearst was.

-

In Africa, Hiro returned to the hut to see himself disappear into the past. "We need to do what he doesn't expect," he told Ando, insisting they hide and wait the old fashioned way. When they returned after nightfall, Usutu was waiting for them, amused they finally learned the lesson by using their heads instead of their abilities. "When you started to think, that's when you found me," he tells them.

"This was a test?" Hiro wonders.

"Yes," he replies. "And now you are ready." He rose and pointed to a new painting of four faces around a double helix. "These are the villains you seek. You can take me to them or you can follow your own path."

Ando pointed to the helix, tracing the red half that resembled the sign of Takezo Kensei and logo of Yamagato Industries, among others. Hiro pulls out the Pinehearst card he received from Daphne. "What does it mean?" he wonders as he notices another painting of two men hugging.

-

Back at Doyle's theatre, the scruffy, balding puppeteer forced the three women under his control to play a game of Russian Roulette. He jokingly called Claire "Barbie" when she protested and made her spin the gun first. It pointed to Sandra. After a heated protest, he finally made Claire pull the trigger on "PTA Mom" instead of "Cool Aunt with flame throwing action."

Click.

The women breathed a sigh of relief until Doyle made Sandra spin the second time. It came to rest pointed at Claire. He had to wonder why she insisted her mother pull the trigger this time. He pulled out Claire's taser. "What's the story, ladies? Barbie here doesn't seem the suicidal type," he inquired, making sure Sandra didn't point the gun anywhere but at Claire.

"Show's how much you know, Eric," Meredith hissed.

Doyle leaned down into her face and kissed her. He could hear Claire's grunt of disgust, so he made Sandra pull the trigger. He looked down at her body. "Oops," he said as he relaxed his hold on her body and let it fall to the floor. Sandra and Meredith gaped in horror. "I'm so sorry about that Meredith," he consoled her. "Let's get out of here and get you someplace a little less traumatic?"

"Go to hell, Eric!" she spat in his face.

"Did I come at a bad time?"

Doyle spun around to see another young blonde in the room.

"Who are you supposed to be?" he asked, reaching out to snare her in his thrall, but she suddenly vanished and reappeared behind him.

"Oh my god!" Daphne cried out, as she nearly stepped on Claire, who was already reviving. "What the hell is going on here?" she demanded.

"Please help us!" Sandra cried out before Doyle forced her mouth shut then made her aim the gun at the intruder. He tried to grab Daphne again, but she sped away to the entrance.

"This is so not worth it," she exclaimed. "Cards are on the table. I'm calling the police. Hasta," she said before bolting.

"What was that about?" Eric asked, plucking the two cards from the mirrored table. One had his name on the back, the other had Claire's. He shoved his into a pocket then asked the two women, "Either of you heard of Pine--" WHACK!

Claire hit him in the head. In reflex, he squeezed the trigger of the taser, hitting Meredith. In an uncontrolled spasm, she let out a burst of flame, causing nearby tapestries to catch fire.

The three women gasped in horror, their momentary shock keeping them from realizing Doyle's control was interrupted by Claire. "We've got to get out of here!" Claire exclaimed. Sandra started to rise out of reflex, then stopped and realized what had happened, she quickly helped the stunned Meredith stand. A silent debate between them on whether to rescue their burly captor or let him meet his fiery fate.

"We can't leave him!" Claire insisted. Begrudgingly, her mothers assisted her in carrying the unconscious bulk toward the door through the growing smoke. As they exited, they could already hear sirens.

"I don't know who that was, but she saved our hides," Sandra noted as they made their way across the street to safety.

"Ill be sure to say something if I ever see her again," Meredith agreed before noticing what her daughter was looking at. "What is that?" he asked.

Claire held up the other card. "This is who contacted Stephen Canfield before," she told them. "He had this same card." Then she realized she couldn't move.

"Sorry, ladies," Doyle said. "Barbie, I guess I'll owe you one?" He then turned and jogged off in the opposite direction of the sirens. The women found themselves able to move as the police arrived, already calling in the fire department. Claire wisely hid the mysterious card in her pocket as Sandra used her 'birthday' cover story to explain their presence.

-

In PrimaTech's Hartsdale, NY office, Sylar showed Peter Angela's comatose body. Peter realized Sylar actually seems to care for his mother's well being. "She's my mother, too, Peter," he claims. "She's the only person who accepted me for what I am. I should have protected her," he said before turning to his confused brother. "You've got to look inside of her head. You've got to find out what's wrong," he insisted.

Peter cautiously steps forward and leaned over his mother, still wondering what game she's playing with the other man. He reached out into her mind. He barely managed to catch a glimpse of a DNA helix before being forced out. He said he saw it before in the future as he draws it on a clipboard to show an inquiring Sylar, who produces the Pinehearst card Daphne gave him earlier. The name triggers a faint memory in Peter from his youth. "I've got to go there and see what's going on," he declared.

Sylar protests, saying they need to stay with their mother. Peter counters his claim of brotherhood, the argument heating up to the point Peter throws Sylar into a fenced window. Sylar threw Peter down the hall, trying to keep Peter from making a rash decision. "I've been down that path. It's too dangerous," he claims.

Peter responded with an electric bolt and a right hook. "You're too weak to stop me," he informs the wounded man, hitting him again. "All this power, I'm the most special," he claims, pounding Sylar again into submission. Peter returns the man to his drugged state, strapped down in his cell and leaves.

-

Back at Suresh's loft, Tracy tried to empathize with the geneticist, noting how everything got out of hand and Daphne offered help, possibly a way out. He agrees that maybe he was a monster, grasping her hand in sympathy.

She freezes his hand and he shouts out in pain. Realizing what she's done, she quickly destroys her bonds and Nathan's in an attempt to escape. Nathan pulls her out of the way of a flying table, courtesy of a recovered Mohinder.

"We're not finished here," he exclaims.

-

Back at LAX, the evening cleaning crew does their duty as a bored Matt grows tired of waiting for Daphne's return. He finally rises to leave, only to almost walk into Daphne. "You're back," he says in surprise.

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm supposed to recruit you to Pinehearst, but it's obvious you wouldn't fit in," she tells him. He's thrown off by this declaration. "It's not you. It's--I mean, it is you, but...it's these people and the things that they do," she tries to explain. "They're not good people, and you seem like a really sweet guy, so--"

"Great," he exclaims, thinking that he might have already swayed her. "Okay, well, that's--" he quickly puts down the cage before continuing. "That's great. I mean, that means that you and I should--"

She cuts him off. "That means that you need to stay away from them," she warns.

"Actually," Matt hesitates, not sure how to explain what he knows. "You have to stay away from them, too." She's confused by this. "In the future," he explains, "Pinehearst is gonna...get you killed." She balks at the news. He presses on. "That's why I wanted to find you, to save you, to keep that from happening," he tries to explain.

She scoffs. "You read minds, not the future."

"I know, I know," he agrees, "but I met this guy in Africa, and everything that he paints--"

"--come true," she finishes in amazement that Matt knows the man, too.

"Yes!" he agrees, pleading. "So you've gotta stay with me!"

"No you don't get it," she counters. "I have to go back. I don't have a choice," she argues.

"But you don't trust these people," he reminds her.

"If you can read my thoughts, then you know that I don't know if I can trust you, either," she counters.

"Forget your thoughts," he argues. "What is your _heart_ telling you to do?" he implores her.

She hesitates. "Same as it always does," she replies. "Keep moving too fast to get caught."

"What do they have over you?" he asks as she turns to leave. She stops and turns back. "I can protect you."

She mulls it over. "No. You can't," she tells him to his disbelief. "Bye Parkman."

She runs off, leaving Matt to wonder what he said wrong.

-

Peter Petrelli teleported to the front of the Pinehearst Building and made his way inside, turning invisible as he did so.

Adam Monroe sipped an aged scotch, one of the many things he missed the last thirty years of his incarceration. His troops filed into the room behind him. Eric Doyle, Daphne Millbrook, Flint Gordon, Knox, and Maury Parkman line up for inspection. "Mr. Monroe?" Maury inquires.

"I know, the bad guys are here," he replies with a bit of amusement. "That's what they call you, is it not?" he inquires. "Criminals, villains--"

The door suddenly flies open and electricity sparks to life as Peter rushes in. The assembled villains react to this intrusion with mixed results. Knox hangs back to see what's going on, not having his ability any longer. Flint's hands erupt in blue flame, eager for a fight. Maury jumps in surprise, Peter having slipped in under his radar. Daphne jumped behind the two burly men out of reflex.

"It's okay!" Adam shouts, his back to Peter. "He's been expected." He turns to face his one-time protégé.

"Adam? How is this possible?" he asks, stunned to see the blond man who once almost duped him into releasing the deadliest virus in history. "Hiro buried you alive."

Adam smiled and approached him. "It's a long story, but thanks to your mother, Hiro also unburied me," he grinned.

"So you're behind all this? You--You hurt mom?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Peter," he smiled. "I haven't seen your mother in ages. She's not one to visit someone unjustly imprisoned, it seems."

"You tried to kill the whole world, Adam," Peter insisted.

Adam scoffed. "Water under the bridge, my friend!" He held out his arms. "Come on, give me a hug for old time's sake!"

Peter hesitated as Adam stepped up to him. "Well?"

Peter suddenly heard someone shout, _"Look out! It's a trap!" _in his head. He knew what had to be done. "I don't think so," he said and unleashed a lightning bolt into the immortal, throwing him across the room.

The blonde woman ran up behind Peter. "Come on! You've got to get out of here!" she said before running away.

Peter felt a new energy in his legs. He paused to take account of who was still in the room before turning and seeing another old face he hadn't expected: Daniel Linderman.

"Not so fast, young Peter," he said and fired a gun at the man.

Peter didn't even feel the bullet, but he felt it when Knox struck him from behind. He tackled him hard enough to knock Peter out for the time being with Linderman's helpful distraction.

Daphne had stopped at the end of the hall and looked back in horror. "Peter, no!" she cried. A voice in her head said, "_Run, girl_!" She had no qualms about heeding it. Better to get him help than run the risk of being captured, herself.

"Well, that could have gone, better," Linderman said as Maury and Adam joined him in the hall over Peter's body. "Doyle, Knox, be a dear and take Mr. Petrelli down to the holding cell, would you?"

Knox snorted at being called "dear" by this English snob, but did as he was told. Doyle just ignored it.

"I take it you're feeling better, Daniel?" Adam inquired.

"Much better than that life support system I've been on these last few months," he replied. "Thanks to you two, with Maury's intervention and your blood transfusions, Adam," he acknowledged.

"Well, at any rate, you look healthier than Arthur did on his," Adam remarked. "But he won't be a problem, anymore, isn't that right, Maury?"

"No sir, he won't," Maury nodded, still looking down the hall after Knox and Peter.

"What about our cowboy in there?" Daniel asked.

Adam leaned back into the room. "Flint, you even singe a single thing, and I'll have you dumped in the middle of the ocean! Do you understand me? Now go help Knox and Doyle take care of Mr. Petrelli!"

Flint looked like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "Uh, yes sir!" he mumbled, patting out the leaf of the plant in the corner and scurrying after the other two.

Adam sighed. "Sometimes, it's so hard to get good help."

TBC________________


	3. Chapter 7 Eris Sum

HEROES: Villains

ch.7 - Eris Sum

Disclaimer: just playing with Tim Kring's toys. I own nothing.

A/N: many Heroes fans were bothered by the throwaway murder of Adam by Arthur. I got to thinking: what if Arthur's plan went awry and Adam turned the tables on him? Canon up to 3.5, then AU. Assume other arcs hold true canon until I alter them. Yes, a LOT of the dialogue is taken from the episodes, for now, but things are slowly beginning to change, including one big reveal in this chapter.

_-_

_Previously..._

_Arthur's plan for resurrection by stealing the regenerative ability of his former mentor, Adam Monroe, has backfired due to the abused trust he placed in his friend, Maury Parkman. Adam has now co-opted Arthur's plans for world domination, seeking revenge for thirty years of imprisonment. However, this deception has had unforeseen consequences, unbeknownst to Arthur's betrayers._

_Angela has made Sylar believe he is her long-lost son, but Peter isn't so eager to accept him into the family, especially when an attack on his mother leaves her helpless and bed-ridden, trapped in her own mind. He seeks answers at Pinehearst, despite Sylar's warnings not to go. Peter leaves Sylar trapped in a drugged state and finds a familiar face waiting for him. _

_Adam Monroe welcomes Peter with open arms, but when Daphne rebels and tries to warn Peter to escape with her, he is subdued in part by a man he believed dead: Daniel Linderman._

_Mohinder Suresh's mutation grows. He has taken captive a violent neighbor, his new lover Maya Herrera, and two people who came seeking his help, newly appointed Senator and friend, Nathan Petrelli, and Tracy Strauss, aide to NY Governor Malden and identical sister to Niki Strauss, whose life Suresh failed to save. He intends to use them to find a cure for what went wrong with his own ability granting Formula._

_Claire Bennet and her two mothers, Meredith Gordon and Sandra Bennet, barely survive a game of Russian Roulette with the puppet master, Eric Doyle. They only saved by the timely appearance of Daphne Millbrook, sent to recruit Doyle to Pinehearst. Doyle decides to run after accidentally tasering Meredith, whose pyrokinetic ability sets fire to his theatre. The three women are left to wonder who is behind Pinehearst, and why are they recruiting people like Stephen Canfield, Eric Doyle, and Claire?_

_Daphne has also recruited Hiro Nakamura, who is trying to sneak into Pinehearst's good graces by making them think he has killed his friend, Ando Masahashi. Hiro's first assignment, locate and subdue the African precognitive painter, Usutu. However, the shaman has a different plan for the time traveler._

_Daphne's recruitment of Matt Parkman, newly returned from Africa, where Usutu sent him on a future vision quest, did not go as planned. Matt insists they will eventually marry and have a daughter, but she will die if she stays with Pinehearst._

-

"Evil forces gather," Usutu informs the two Japanese men, interrupting their argument about what the African has already told them about recent happenings. "The dark sun rises," he explains. "Soon it will be too late. Will you choose your own path, or will you have it chosen for you?"

Hiro considers the man's words and looks over his portentous paintings once more.

-

"You ruined everything!" Mohinder accuses his now-former captives. Tracy warns him off as he notices her hand turn blue from her criokinetic ability. Nathan demands to know what has happened with the geneticist. "I'm trying to help Maya, to remove her ability," the Indian explains.

Tracy demands to know why he tried to experiment on them. He replies their abilities are synthetic in nature and may hold the key to the cure for the woman who cries death.

When Nathan denies his request for another sample from them, he makes his displeasure known, but is momentarily at a loss as to his next move. Realizing where the only place he can go to for help, he leaps to Maya's cocoon on the wall, pulls her free, then jumps straight up through the skylight in the ceiling, sending down a rain of glass and debris, and escaping into the night.

At a loss for what to do next, Nathan contacts his daughter's adoptive father, Noah Bennet, hoping the resources of PrimaTech can help the man still stuck to the wall and make some sense of the mess Suresh has created.

-

Peter Petrelli dreamed of his father's death. Nathan at his door the morning of his deposition against him, the memorial service they held for his ashes in the backyard, the man who had been so strong to the young man cut down before his time. He then saw his father lying in a bed, hooked up to tubes and machinery as if in a hospital. His face came into focus, eyes pleading.

"Dad! NO!" He woke with a scream, sitting upright, but found he was shackled to a cot in a cell. Confused, he looked around, only to see Adam Monroe reading quietly, as if waiting for Peter to awake. "Adam?" he panted, "What-where-?"

"This may come as a shock to you, Peter, but your abilities won't work in here," he said calmly, closing his book and approaching the young man. "Well, at least until you hear me out. Then we'll see about letting you have your abilities, back, eh?"

"What?" he asked, still confused. "Where am I?"

"New Jersey," the immortal answered casually. "Some bump in the road called Pinehearst. Never heard of it, myself, until a few days ago, honestly."

"What's going on?"

"It seems your father had some contingency operation in place should the need ever come to it," he explained. "Seeing as how he'll no longer need it, I took over," he smiled.

Peter flinched at the menacing tone. "No, my mother would have known, she would have told us, she--"

"She was duped by your father for many years, it seems, young Peter," he informed his captive. "It seems he had no qualms about keeping her in the dark on a number of his endeavors. The sacrifice of his children, for starters."

"What are you talking about? My father would never--"

"Who do you think arranged the 'accident' that crippled Nathan's wife?" he asked. "Who do you think planned the events that put you and your friends in Kirby Plaza last fall?"

Peter stared at the man, unsure what to think.

"Granted, the car accident was more because of your brother trying to take your father to court, which would have uncovered all sorts of nasty business that, well, would have been very bad fro several parties, myself included," he explained. "As for Kirby? Well, a controlled explosion is still an explosion, right? It was meant to happen, one way or the other, some of us just wanted our own spin on that."

"We stopped it! New York was never destroyed!" Peter protested.

"Ah yes, the whole 'acceptable loss' scenario?" he mused. "Like I said, we knew that night was foretold years before, so your parents and their friends tried to put their best spin on events, with one exception." He glanced to Peter.

"What was that?"

"You," he said simply. "You were meant to sacrifice yourself that night," he explained. "Granted, not everyone was supposed to be there, and then Nathan came swooping down at the last second for the save!" he exclaimed, chuckling. He looked back to Peter. "But you changed the game, turned plans laid down decades ago into ruin."

Peter smirked. "I can't say I'm sorry, then."

Adam shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. I'm not the one who wanted Nathan in the White House."

Peter started at that, unaware that what he had seen a few days ago (and several years from now) was what had been planned for his brother for a very long time.

Adam took notice of Peter's reaction. "Ah, so you know about that part of the plan, do you?"

Peter grimaced. "I was just there, in the future. Abilities ran rampant. Costa Verde nuked. I-I killed Nathan." He hesitated before saying the rest. "And Claire killed me. My future self."

"And we don't want that to happen, now do we?" Adam asked. "Join me. Work with me, and we can make sure that doesn't have to happen, Peter," he implored. "Trust me, Peter, we can save the future from itself! Together, we can make sure that the future you saw never happens. Once you understand what we're doing--"

"I'm not interested in what you're doing," Peter shot back. "I'm going to find a way to shut you down, and I'm going to make you pay for everything you've ever done!" he shouted.

Adam tossed his hands up, shrugging. "I was really hoping you would see what I'm trying to do, Peter," he said. He tossed his book on the cot. "Here's some light reading for you. Maybe it will change your mind." He turned and left, locking Peter in his cell.

Peter looked down at the tome. He had to laugh. Friedrich Nietzsche's _Thus Spoke Zarathustra_.

-

Sandra and Claire Bennet finally returned home after their long, arduous day. As they got out of the car, they noticed the lights flickering. Thinking it was something minor, Sandra started to blow it off as the circuit breakers, but then Claire noticed the body in the quavering shadows. "Lyle!" she called out, running to her brother's side.

"The bitch is back," he moaned, coughing to catch his breath.

Claire left her brother to her mother's care and followed the blue sparking into her father's office. Elle Bishop sat at the desk, crying as Noah Bennet's laptop screen wavered and sparked at the other blonde's touch. "Elle?" she asked, confused as to the situation.

Elle turned to face her and Claire saw sparks running all over her body, uncontrolled. "Hey, Pom-Pom," she snarked, but it was obvious she was in pain. She flinched as currents spiked through her body.

"What the hell are you doing her?" Claire demanded. "Get out of my house!"

Elle rose and approached the younger blonde, hand outstretched. "Not until I get what I came for," she said, firing a bolt into her.

Claire smirked as Elle panicked, the current dying down. "Fine, then I'll throw you out!" she said and grabbed a hunk of Elle's scalp, dragging her to the nearest door.

"Leave me alone!" she cried, and managed to flip Claire onto the floor. She let loose another stream of electricity, but suddenly found herself doused with water from Lyle. She screamed in pain and fell back into a corner, electricity still playing over her body. The others looked on in shock. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I need help. I-I didn't know where else to go."

-

Mohinder Suresh stood watching Maya Herrera from outside her hermetically sealed room. He wondered again if he had done the right thing? A sudden voice behind him made him jump.

"I apologize for keeping you waiting, Doctor," the man said. "I'm Daniel Linderman," he introduced himself.

Mohinder was confused. "Everyone thinks you're dead."

"That was the idea," he replied in his gravelly English accent. He approached the glass wall and stared at Maya. "How's our patient?" he asked.

"Terrified," Mohinder replied. He wasn't sure if it was his own guilt or a professional assessment. "She thinks I'm a monster and has no idea where she is." He turned to the only hope he had left. "Nor do I for that matter."

"You're among friends," Linderman told him, tearing his eyes away from the exotic but lethal beauty before them.

"I promised Maya I would remove her abilities and end her suffering," Mohinder informed the older man. "I will do anything to keep that promise."

Linderman smirked. "All you have to do is watch," he said and entered the room. He strode to the woman and seemed to examine her for a moment, then grabbed her hands with his. She jumped at the touch.

She gasped as he moved to grab her shoulders, her body seemed to convulse as her eyes darkened. He held her down until she finally calmed, breathing a sigh of relief. Linderman turned to face Suresh, his eyes black. Mohinder gasped as they slowly cleared. Maya settled down and immediately dozed off from the stress of what happened to her.

Mohinder entered the room. "I can't believe what I just witnessed!" he exclaimed. "How did you--"

"All in good time, doctor," the elder man replied, seeming winded. He motioned to the door and the two men left her to sleep.

"You're telling me all traces of Maya's ability have been removed from her system?" he asked as they walked down the hall.

"I healed the contaminant and leave nothing behind," he replied.

"Could you do the same to me?" Suresh asked eagerly.

"Is that what you want? To be normal again?" he asked.

"I injected myself with an unstable Formula, made with her pheromones," he explained. "It's side effects are changing me into something else, something I don't understand. I need to fins a way to reverse the changes and retain my abilities."

Linderman gave a barely perceptible nod and led the Indian into a complex lab. Dr. Livitz turned at their entry. Mohinder saw the screen behind the balding man contained an image of a torn paper with a formula written on it, another screen showed the molecular equivalent. Another pair of monitors seemed to show the other half.

"This isn't my Formula," he said, astonished at what he was looking at. "The cytologies are similar, but the protein links are enmeshed. Has it been successful?" he wondered, mentally comparing his work and this one.

"We've taken it as far as we can," Linderman explained. "That's why we need you. If you can make our version of the formula successful, a fresh injection might be exactly what you need."

Mohinder suddenly felt déjà vu. "I've been down this road before," he protested. "There is always a hidden agenda, a self-serving motivation behind it all."

Linderman smirked. "If you don't want to be here, then by all means, leave."

Mohinder looked back to the monitors. At his current rate of progression, he might not have too long to find a cure on his own. He swallowed hard. "I'll need test subjects," he said. Linderman gave him a smug smile.

-

Angela Petrelli lay in her bed, unable to physically move a muscle. It was a good thing she had practiced a few mental tricks with Charles over he years. She reached out to anyone who could hear her weak voice. She found the only person in the facility who could help her. She pushed past the drug-induced haze of his mind. "Gabriel."

His head popped up in confusion.

"Peter needs your help," she told him, standing at the foot of his slab.

"Peter doesn't want anything to do with me," he protested. "He thinks I'm just a killer."

"This isn't about what he wants, this is about what I'm telling you to do," she said. "Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out of this cell."

"This is where I belong, in a cage," he countered. "I couldn't escape if I wanted to. They're blocking my abilities." He looked over to the IV drip subjugating him.

"Then how do you explain my being here?" she asked. He turned to look at her. "Oh Gabriel, you don't know the half of what you're capable of," she informed him. "Show them. Show them all why you're my favorite," she goaded. "Make Mommy proud."

Sylar's eyes snapped open. He realized it had been a dream, or had it? He concentrated and his bonds flew off. He ripped the inhaler feed from his nose and, with a flick of his fingers, tore the cell door from it's hinges.

He soon stood over Angela's sleeping body. He kissed her forehead. "Don't worry, Mom," he cooed, "I'll save Peter."

-

"Is there something wrong with you?" Claire asked Elle as she tried to leave before electric surges forced her to stay put.

"I keep overloading and I can't eat, I can't sleep," she explained. She sighed and pulled a card from her back pocket. "This girl found me and said I should go to this company, Pinehearst," she explained, rambling, "that they knew what was wrong with me and how to get me better, but I've never heard of it." She handed Claire the card, who looked at it in astonishment. "I didn't want to go there without knowing what the deal was, and your dad always seemed to be the one with all the answers, so...home invasion time."

Claire sat down and held up the card to Elle. "What if there's something wrong with all of us and they can fix it?"

Elle had no clue what she was talking about. "You're fine. You're perfect," she said.

"No. I'm not," Claire said with more than a hint of anger. "Whatever's happening to you, it's happening to me, too. I can't feel pain, any more, and I think it's only a matter of time before I can't feel anything at all," she moaned.

When Elle countered she was in constant agony, Claire replied, "Go with me." Elle regarded her a moment. Claire stood. "If there is a chance that these people can help us--" she started. "We'll go together."

"All right Dorothy," Elle replied, standing, "then we're off to see the wizard."

-

Daphne Millbrook returned to the Manhattan apartment Pinehearst had furnished her. _Just a few minutes to get my things and I am outta here_, she thought, but stopped short when she realized she wasn't alone. Adam Monroe, and Knox were waiting with another man, older, balding, and heavyset. She had seen him the night before, when they had convened in Adam's office but were interrupted by that Peter guy. There was something vaguely familiar about him she couldn't put her finger on.

"Daphne, we have a little problem," Adam began. "Where did you run off to last night?"

"I, uh, that guy, Peter?" she stammered. "He just kinda freaked me out, is all, appearing out of nowhere and throwing _lightning_ around? I mean, I'm just a simple girl and--"

Adam held up his hand. "Save the excuses. You had a job to do and you still haven't finished it."

"I, um, that is--"

"You were supposed to recruit my son, Matt Parkman," the other man informed her.

Daphne now realized why he looked familiar, if he was Matt's father, then it had to be the family resemblance, wasn't it? No, not quite, she thought as she turned back to the matter at hand. "Yeah, I gave him the pitch, but he wasn't buying," she told them. "I mean, the guy's a mind reader," she told them, realizing that they already knew that, but not what he had told her about the two of them.

Adam stepped forward. She could feel Knox step up behind her as well. "Were you thinking something which would have discouraged him from joining our little group?" Adam asked.

She saw the elder Parkman scrutinizing her as Adam asked this. She hoped he wasn't a mind reader, too, or she could be in deep trouble. "That's not what I meant," she stuttered.

"She's lying," Knox said behind her.

She glanced to him, suddenly aware of her growing fear at what might happen, here. "I am not," she protested.

"Then why you so scared, girl?" he asked. "Parkman's a pushover. I've known him long enough to know that."

"Then you don't know him," she protested, noting his father was watching her with more interest. She felt a slight buzzing in her head. "How can I fix this?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Revisit young Mr. Parkman," Adam began before she cut him off.

"I don't think he's gonna take the deal," she protested.

"You're not going there to offer him anything," Adam informed her. "You're going there to kill him."

"What?" Maury asked. Daphne was surprised at this pronouncement.

"I just asked her to kill your son, Maury. Is that a problem?" he replied blithely.

"You're damn right," Maury fumed. "My loyalty for his safety, that was the arrangement," he protested.

Daphne could tell his concern for Matt was genuine, she had to say something to change Adam's mind or he might kill her instead. "I'm a thief. I steal things," she told the immortal. "There is no way I could kill anybody."

Maury suddenly stepped between the two. "I'm not gonna let you do this, Adam," he protested.

"You're not in a position to give me orders," Adam said, glancing behind the rotund man.

"I'm Matt's father, without me, you'd still be lying--"

Knox quickly grabbed him by the neck and twisted. Maury fell to the floor, not moving. Daphne looked on in horror.

"Thank you, Maury, for all your sacrifice," Adam said insincerely, stepping over the man's body to Daphne.

"Please," she begged, backing away from him, "there has to be another way."

-

Matt Parkman had placed his tortoise in the same aquarium as Mohinder's lizard, introducing the pair before trying his roommate's cell phone. No one had been home in days, it seemed. Most of Molly's clothes and several personal items were missing. Food in the fridge was beginning to spoil, making note some of it he recognized as Mexican dishes Molly had turned her nose up at before. He wasn't totally surprised he got the man's voicemail.

"Mohinder, it's Matt," he began. "Where the hell you been, man? I just got back from the craziest week of my life," he explained. He was about to ask about Molly, when a knock sounded at the door. He sighed. "Do me a favor, give me a call as soon as possible, okay?" he finished as he opened the door.

He stopped short as he saw Daphne holding a gun almost as big as she was. His hands instinctively shot up. She waved it, ordering him, "Put down the phone."

"Daphne, what are you doing?" he asked, backing up.

She shut the door behind her, not taking her eyes off the man she had been ordered to kill. "They think that I told you not to come to Pinehearst, that I warned you away," she blurted out. "They don't believe I'm one of them."

Matt could see she didn't want to do this, but had been scared into following orders. "Well, you're not," he concurred, hoping to talk her out of what she was about to do.

"Shut up," she ordered. "If I don't kill you, they kill me," she told him.

He knew she wasn't capable of it, and he had to prove it to her. "Shoot," he dared her.

"What?" she replied in disbelief.

"Shoot me," he told her. "Go ahead. If it's the only way that I can save your life, do it."

She shook her head. "You think you know me, that I'm worth saving, but I've done some bad things," she told him.

"Yeah, but you make up for all that in the future," he told her, hoping to convince her to his way of seeing things.

"I don't have a future unless I kill you," she exclaimed, "so turn around." Matt tried to shake his head, but she ordered him again. "Do it."

He did as he was told, trying to think of how to get out of this. The thousands of things that run through your head when facing death. "We get married," he said slowly. "We start a family together."

"Stop it," she begged softly.

"We're gonna love each other," he said, voice cracking. He could hear her breathing getting heavier, making herself do the deed. His own breath became labored, seconds felt like years.

He jumped when he heard the bang. Then he realized nothing felt like it had been hit like it had in Kirby Plaza last November. He spun around to see her hanging her head, trying not to cry. The gun had fallen to the floor. He let out a deep sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry, Matt," she sobbed. She wasn't talking about what she had almost done here. "It happened so fast, there was nothing I could do," she babbled.

He felt her projecting to him, he reached out to her mind and saw what had happened. He couldn't believe it.

"My dad?" he stammered. She nodded, fighting back tears.

-

Adam entered Peter's cell. His cot was empty. He heard footsteps approaching and turned in time to see Peter charging. He gave a quick sidestep to let his two burly guards grab the young empath.

"So I guess you're not going to help me," he noted.

"Don't do this, Adam," he begged. "Please, you're going to destroy the world!"

"I don't see it that way."

"You think you're better than everyone else?" he questioned, struggling against his captors. "That you have the right to do whatever you want, hurt anyone who gets in your way?"

"I am better, Peter," he replied. "After 400 years of seeing how this world operates, it's not a belief, it's a fact. And one way or another, you will help me get this done." He jerked his head and the two men drug Peter out the door.

They strapped him to a gurney and pushed him into a laboratory, leaving him before two men. One he didn't immediately recognize, the other he did.

"Suresh?" he said in disbelief.

"Hello, Peter," he replied.

"So you're helping Adam?"

"I prefer to think he's helping me," Mohinder replied.

"And what is that?" he asked, nodding to the large syringe in the Indian's hand.

"Your metabolism is primed to accept abilities," he explained, "which makes you the ideal source of unlocking those abilities in others like you, like us." Peter started to protest but Suresh cut him off. "You may help in perfecting a new formula I need to survive."

"Wait, when I saw you in the future, you said that manipulating abilities was wrong," he countered, "that this was all a mistake."

"Did I?"

"You were trying to help me, Mohinder," Peter pleaded.

Mohinder grew anxious, ignoring his new assistant and leaned forward. "Peter, tell me something, in this future of yours, what did I look like?"

Peter shook his head. "There was something wrong with you," he said. "You'd changed. You looked like a monster."

Mohinder gasped, then pulled himself together. "Then you're too late." He rolled the cuff of his sleeve up once and proceeded to draw a sample from the young man when the needle suddenly flew out of his hand. His initial reaction was that Peter had suddenly regained his abilities, but then he looked up and saw the last person he wanted to see again.

"Hello, Mohinder," Sylar said smugly before telekinetically slamming him into the wall.

Livitz tried to bolt, but Sylar threw him into the opposite wall, not knowing (or caring?) that that wall had several pipes protruding out of it where Livitz soon found himself hanging from in his last moments.

Sylar then stepped to an astonished Peter, loosening his straps. "You came for me?" he asked.

"That's what brothers do, Peter," Sylar replied. "They look out for each other. Let's get out of here."

Sylar suddenly found himself attacked from behind as Suresh launched himself across the room and began beating the man's head into the floor.

Peter stumbled from the gurney toward them. "Stop! Leave him alone!"

Mohinder knocked him away with barely a glance. "He deserves to die!" he protested.

Linderman suddenly entered the room, shouting at Peter. To his astonishment, the man pulled out a gun and opened fire, narrowly missing him. Peter made for the exit.

"This is for killing my father!" Mohinder shouted, pounding on Sylar.

Linderman grabbed Mohinder's arm, shouting "That's enough! Enough!"

"Do you know who this man, is?" he sobbed over the stunned murderer of his father. "Do you have any idea how many innocent people he's killed?"

"I do, and he's also my son," Linderman replied. "I've been waiting for him for a long time."

Mohinder turned and stared up in astonishment.

-

"I told you not to touch anything," Noah Bennet scolded Tracy Strauss after tasering the man into submission that she tried to free from Suresh's cocoon.

"About time," Nathan chided, pulling Tracy away from her attacker. Then he noticed Bennet's partner. "Meredith," he greeted her.

"Nathan," she replied. "Well, I see you've still got a weakness for blondes," she teased.

Company agents soon swarmed the place, removing the man from the wall and confiscating Suresh's research.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Tracy said, trying to make sense of how her rescuers were intertwined. "She's the biological mother of your illegitimate daughter, and he's her adoptive father?"

"That sounds about right," Noah replied to the others' amusement before insisting both return with him to be tested in case Suresh did something to them. He then left them to oversee the other agents.

"So you working with him?" Nathan asked his ex-lover.

"For now," she replied as his cell went off, and he excused himself. The two women eyed each other. "I'd watch out for that one," she warned Tracy.

"We're not together," Tracy confided.

Meredith didn't buy it. "Oh, right," she said and walked off.

-

"My dad and I weren't even close," Matt confided to Daphne. "But to think that he would ever put himself in danger to protect me--?"

"Well, he didn't do it so you could sit around here and wait to get killed," she told him.

"What do you mean?"

"Pinehearst," she reminded. "They'll be sending someone after me to make sure you're dead," she told him.

"Let them come," Matt challenged.

"Oh yeah, great," she retorted. "Then you can use your brain mojo thingy. Perfect." She trailed off, not sure why she was still staying with him.

Matt picked up on this immediately. "If you need to go, I understand. But I can't let them get away with this," he told her. He sensed someone nearing the door.

"I want to help you," Daphne protested. "I'm just scared," she admitted in a soft voice.

"So am I, but we can't let our fears stop us from doing what's right," he told her.

Eric Doyle kicked in the door. "I knew you couldn't kill him," he said.

"I'm sorry, Matt," she cried, ready to bolt.

"No, stick to the plan," he reminded her, sizing up this newcomer.

"I can't!" Daphne exclaimed and bolted for the door.

"No," Matt warned her too late, as Doyle stuck his hands out, seizing control of her legs and braking her acceleration. Her momentum carried her forward into the doorframe, knocking her cold. She fell to the ground with a groan. "No! Stop!" Matt shouted, reaching out to the puppeteer with his mind.

"You think you can hold me with your power?" he argued, fighting Matt's control. He realized he was at a disadvantage, as his ability was confined to physical movement, and someone like Parkman with mental abilities could slip past his defenses. He felt a hot liquid on his lip as his nose began to bleed from the strain.

"Not only can I hold you, I can kill you," Matt taunted. "I'm gonna dig inside your head, find your worst fear and make it eat you alive," he growled in anger.

Doyle noticed Matt was straining just as much as he was. His nose was bleeding, now, too. That was when he realized he had one advantage over Parkman, he could still move while Matt's body was frozen by his ability. He reached to his side and felt a lamp. He swung it at Matt's head, knocking him to the ground.

Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, Doyle dropped to the couch, glad the fight was over. Still, he had to make sure. He pulled out the pistol, rose, and quickly put two bullets in Matt's chest. He then turned to Daphne and sighed. "I'm sorry, you were kinda cute, but orders are orders." He then put two more bullets into her chest.

He stood over the bodies for a long minute, his face now reminiscent of a sad, lost puppy. It was one thing to force others to play Russian Roulette, but another thing to be the one holding the gun. He gave a heavy sigh as he holstered the gun under his jacket and closed the door behind him.

The bodies on the floor vanished. Daphne and Matt slowly stepped out from the bedroom. "What was that about?" she asked.

"Looks like you're not the only one having second thoughts about this job," Matt said, reaching out with his mind to make sure no one else was being sent to triple check the job was done. He wondered why Doyle's recent memories were of Claire and her mother. He hoped they were alright.

He was suddenly distracted by Daphne. "Matt, that was amazing," she exclaimed and kissed him on the cheek.

He did a double take at her, trying not to blush. "Well, yeah," he mumbled. "I just got inside his head with my brain mojo thingy," he told her. She blushed, too. He pulled himself together, explaining, "My dad could do the same thing." A thought crossed his mind, surely he--?

"Now that they think we're dead, we have time to get away," she said, changing the subject.

"No," he objected. "I told you, I'm not running."

"What are you gonna do, Matt?" she asked. "Fight them? Trick them into killing each other? That's not gonna bring your dad back, but it will probably get you killed."

"I'm a cop," he told her. "Stopping guys like Doyle, that's what I do."

"You can't bring them down by yourself," she protested. "There's no way. Even with me at your back, we'd still need help."

Matt nodded, seeing her point. "There's a company, PrimaTech, they know how to deal with situations like this," he told her. "If anybody can help, they can."

She gave him a quizzical look. There's another group of people like us, she wondered.

-

Flint entered Adam's office. "The building's sealed up tight," he informed his bosses. "If Peter's still here, he ain't getting out."

"Peter's long gone."

Adam gave the other man a dirty look over his shoulder.

"If I find him, you want him crispy or well done?" Flint asked.

"Alive, please," Adam replied, knowing it wouldn't matter if Peter had his abilities back.

"Alright," Flint replied, making it clear 'alive' wasn't his first choice.

Adam turned to the other man in the room. "I sent somebody to recruit you," he casually remarked. "When you refused her offer, I didn't expect to see you here."

"My mother's in a coma," Sylar replied. "Did you do that?"

"Angela's not the woman you think she is, Gabriel," Adam informed him. "She's done terrible things."

"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you two," he replied, eyeing the other man as well as Adam.

Adam crossed his arms. "Has Angela forgiven your sins?" he asked.

"My mother accepts me for who I am."

"I wonder if you'll be so generous."

"What are you talking about?" Sylar asked.

"She sent you here, didn't she? To save her favorite son," Adam inquired. "Did she tell you that you were all going to live happily ever after?"

"She's using you, son, as a weapon," the other man informed him. "A blunt instrument to be manipulated and then discarded."

"My mother loves me," he scoffed.

Linderman steepled his fingers. "When you were born, she had one of her dreams, a vision of the future. She saw what you would become," he explained.

"I know this," he replied. "She told me I'd become a hero."

Adam raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Did she?"

"Angela was so terrified of she saw, so frightened of her own flesh and blood," Linderman explained, "that she tried to kill you."

Sylar stared at him in confusion.

"Imagine that," Adam said, "a mother wanting to murder her own child."

Linderman leaned into Sylar's face. "I got to the bathroom just in time. She was holding you at the bottom of the tub."

Sylar looked around in confusion, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

"It's time you learned the truth about your mother," he whispered into his ear.

"Who are you?" Sylar demanded. "How do you know so much about me?"

Linderman looked up to Adam, who nodded. "I'm your father, Gabriel," he said, his features melted away as he stood up taller than he had before, his hair thickening and graying then becoming an ashen brown, his face lengthened.

"You're not my father," Sylar protested. "My father was Martin Gray, a watchmaker."

"How is my dear brother?" he asked. "Or have you not seen him since he walked out on you and Virginia--how long ago has it been now?"

"Who are you?" Sylar demanded again.

"I'm your real father, Samson Gray," he replied.

Sylar looked to Adam for confirmation, who raised his scotch in salute. "Congratulations, it's a boy!"

-

Peter tried to make his way to the front doors, sneaking past the elevator bank when he heard the familiar ding and ran back around the corner, only to see Mohinder Suresh exit and look over the railing. He spied someone in the lobby below and headed for the stairs. Peter took the vacant elevator, heading for the roof access.

Mohinder approached Maya. "That's far enough," she warned.

"I was told you were leaving," he replied.

"Maybe one day I could forgive you, but after everything that's happened, I just...I don't think I could ever trust you again," she told him.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I was trying to help," he apologized. "My feelings for you were real. They still are."

"What you did in my name was wrong."

"I wish I could take it all back," he told her. "I guess I was just...jealous. Of you. Of Peter, Claire, Niki," he paused as he forced the next two out. "Even Matt and my sweet little Molly. I wanted to be special, too."

"I've done bad things," she told him. "Killed people. Not by choice, but still, I did them. I need to make amends, and so do you." she looked into his eyes. "Get well, Mohinder." She turned and left him standing there.

Upstairs, Peter was still trying to find his way out when he stumbled across Sylar sitting by himself. He rose to his newfound brother. "Peter, you stayed?"

"I wasn't gonna leave you," he replied. "What are you doing sitting here? Did they take your powers?"

"No, he told me the truth."

"You can't listen to him."

"He's my father."

"He's a liar, and he tried to kill the world twice over, already!"

"So I don't get the right to know him? Is that what you're saying?"

"He can't be trusted. You've seen what he's done," Peter insisted. "He hurt mom. He's manipulated people with abilities. I know where that leads."

"The world you saw doesn't exist," Adam said, surprising both men. "We won't let it." Linderman stood by his side.

"I'm sorry, Peter, this is something I have to do."

"If you help them, you're proving the worst things I've said about you," Peter told him. "Just kick their asses and let's get out of here."

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere, Peter," Sylar said. "You are." He pointed two fingers at Peter, who had no time to react before he found himself being thrown through the window and falling to the ground below.

Claire and Elle had just arrived in search of help when they heard the crash and looked up to see a body hurtling towards them. It landed behind a large hedge in front of the building. They ran to it, Claire having recognized who it was in the moment before he hit. "Omigod, Peter!" she exclaimed. "Peter!"

"What are you doing here?" he asked unsteady as Claire helped him to his feet.

"Why are you bleeding?" she asked, unsure of anything at the moment.

"He's not healing," Elle pointed out.

"They took my ability," he gasped. "We need to go."

Claire looked to Elle, who was staring at the front door to the building. "Elle, help me get him to the car," she pleaded.

She stepped back. "Did you hear what he said? That they took his ability, that's what we came here for!" she exclaimed.

"What? You don't know what happened in there!"

"I-I'm sorry, Claire!" she said as she ran for the front door.

"Elle!" Claire called after her, but decided Peter needed to get away first. "You can't heal. How did you fall that far and not die?" she asked.

"I don't know," he gasped as they limped to her car.

Standing at the shattered window, watching Claire drive off, Sylar allowed Samson to approach him from behind.

"Peter's never gonna give up, you know," he warned his father.

"I would expect nothing less of a Petrelli," he replied. "Revenge is in their blood."

Sylar was amused by this. "Are we just gonna wait for him to come after us?"

"No, son. We're going to take our fight to the enemy," he said, then inquired, "How do you suppose Peter survived that fall? Seven stories without the ability to heal. Hell of a thing."

Sylar turned to face his father and gave a slight shrug. "I don't know."

-

Daphne watched Matt tend to the tortoise and lizard. Had she done the right thing? Did Adam really believe Doyle killed them both? And why was Matt carrying a freaking tortoise when he met her? Was it some sort of prank, his slow tortoise to her speedy hare? She went to him and gave him a small hug. He reciprocated then turned back to the tank, rearranging it for both animals to live more comfortably. Was this the first step toward them living together comfortably? The thought made her nervous, but in a good way. Right?

-

Back at his apartment, Claire tended Peter's wounds, as he wondered how he survived, guessing Sylar threw him out and slowed his fall on purpose. Claire scoffed. "I'm telling you, he saved my life, Claire."

"Claire," Nathan echoed. Both turned to see her father enter with...was that Niki? She went to hug her father, and he confided his new friend was good before he realized Peter was injured.

"What happened? Why aren't you healing?" he asked.

"I don't have my powers, any more, Nathan," Peter replied. "Adam, he and Linderman took them," he confessed.

"Linderman's dead," Nathan replied.

"He's not, he's alive."

"He can't be, Pete. Niki and Ma both said--"

"He's alive, Nathan," Peter protested. "And if we don't do something to stop them, they're gonna kill us all."

"That's just...It's impossible, Pete," Nathan protested. "Daniel Linderman died last year. Niki's husband tore a chunk out of his head, killed him."

"They're the ones who put mom in a coma," he countered.

"How, Pete?" Nathan asked. "Adam is like Claire, Linderman is a healer. Neither one has an ability like that. They'd have to use a, I don't know, some sort of mentalist like...Matt." He stopped short and looked at his brother.

"What? Surely Matt hasn't joined them?"

"No way," Claire agreed. "Matt's not like that!"

"No, not Matt," Nathan told them. "His father, the Nightmare Man. He put Matt's little girl in a coma when she found him, he could've done it to Ma, too. Did you see him? Big guy like Matt, but balding."

Peter thought a moment. "Yeah, there was a guy like that when I first got there. I could swear someone shouted in my head it was a trap. You don't think--?"

"Dads aren't always what they seem," Claire interjected.

Nathan regarded her warmly for a moment, then turned back to Peter. "Where are they?"

"Stay away from them," he warned. "They're dangerous, Nathan. Look what they did to me."

"If Adam--If Linderman's alive, I need to know where they are. What's the name of the company?" he implored.

Peter remained silent, refusing to send his brother into danger.

Claire broke the silence. "Pinehearst." All eyes were on her.

Surprisingly, Tracy was the first to respond. "Pinehearst, the biotech firm?" she asked.

Nathan rose, Peter grabbed him. "I'm not gonna let you do this," he protested. "Nathan, trust me. Please."

"Okay," he replied. "We'll do it your way. There's a lot of ways to shut Pinehearst down," he said. "Look, I'll call somebody up from the Justice Department. We'll get some help."

Peter nodded his agreement. Nathan glanced to Claire before he left, Tracy following. Peter gave Claire a dirty look for telling her father where to look.

"You're not gonna listen to a word he just said, are you," Tracy asked in the hall.

"Nope," he replied. "I'm gonna go see Linderman." He stopped and turned to her, "How do you know about Pinehearst?"

"I've been taking a consultant fee from them for over a year," she replied. "I'm coming with you. I know the players there. I can open doors."

"I don't need any doors opened. I plan on kicking them down," he told her before turning and marching off.

-

"Is that food?" Hiro asked, wary of the situation.

"It's a recipe," Usutu replied, mixing the paste. "It's been in my family for thousands of years," he explained. "You refuse to go back in time, even if it means saving the world." He began scooping the paste into bowls.

"I cannot risk changing history," he repeated once again. "If only there is some other way of learning about my enemies, uncovering their weaknesses, so I can defeat them."

"For thousands of years, my family have taken spirit walks," Usutu explained, "following destiny's path into the realms of the unconsciousness."

Hiro tasted the paste, choking down the first bite. Ando sniffed it and passed, shaking his head.

"Delicious," Hiro politely forced himself to say through his grimace. "Spirit walk sounds much safer than time travel," he acknowledged. "Okay. I'm ready to begin my journey. How do I start?"

"You eat a disgusting paste made from the roots of a Tamboti tree and the dung of a hyena," Usutu told him.

Hiro was just about to take a second bite when he heard this. He stopped and looked at the paste on his fingers. Ando grimaced in disgust. Hiro dropped the paste back into the bowl and asked, "And then?"

"You wait," he shrugged.

Ando looked between the two expectantly. Hiro's eyes clouded over and he fell back. Ando went to his friend, calling his name. "You tricked him," he accused the shaman.

"I warned him," he countered. "If he did not choose his path, it would be chosen for him."

"He's going to wake up, right? He's going to be okay?"

Usutu smiled and continued to mix the paste.

Hiro's mind rolled back the passage of time, focusing on people he knew and some he didn't.

TBC________


	4. Chapter 8 Villain

HEROES: Villains

ch.8 - Villain

Disclaimer: just playing with Tim Kring's toys. I own nothing.

A/N: many Heroes fans were bothered by the throwaway murder of Adam by Arthur. I got to thinking: what if Arthur's plan went awry and Adam turned the tables on him? Canon up to 3.5, then AU. Assume other arcs hold true canon until I alter them. Yes, a LOT of the dialogue is taken from the episodes for now, but things are slowly beginning to change, including one big reveal in this chapter.

_Previously..._

_Arthur's plan for resurrection by stealing the regenerative ability of his former mentor, Adam Monroe, has backfired due to the abused trust he placed in his friend, Maury Parkman. Adam has now co-opted Arthur's plans for world domination, seeking revenge for thirty years of imprisonment. However, this deception has had unforeseen consequences, unbeknownst to Arthur's betrayers._

_In Africa, Hiro Nakamura had been sent to recruit the precognitive shaman, Usutu, to Pinehearst. Usutu convinced Hiro there were other paths to his destiny and has sent the reluctant time traveler on the same spirit quest as he sent Matt Parkman so Hiro may learn of how events have happened and what he must do to prevent disaster._

It is said, to fight evil, one must know evil. One must journey back in time and find that fork in the road where heroes turn one way...and villains turn another.Many threads of destiny become entwined. Some more twisted and intimately than others. To unravel them, one must learn where they begin, and where some end.

**ONE YEAR AGO, **

**April, NEW YORK CITY**

"I told you he couldn't say 'nurse' out loud," Peter snarked as Nathan slipped him the twenty.

"All right. Get a room, you two," Nathan scolded his parents.

"After forty-one years, you take it where you can get it," Angela remarked with a wink to her eldest.

"My King, My Queen," Daniel Linderman acknowledged the couple. "Congratulations," he kissed her hand then her cheek as she thanked her old friend before shaking Arthur's hand. They went to mingle with the other guests, leaving him with their sons. He inquired about the rumors of Nathan's investigation into his affairs, knowing it could expose over forty years of secrets, the last thirty-five of which were intimately tied to the man's father.

"I'd shave my wrists," Nathan informed him. Daniel gave him a curious look. "Handcuffs can chafe," he finished and stepped away with a smirking Peter.

Daniel chuckled, thinking of an entirely different scenario about how Nathan knew this. Arthur shot him a look and he joined his friend. "What do you see in there, Arthur?" he asked.

The man was silent for a moment as he eyed his son. "Trouble," he replied and they briefly discussed what Nathan had planned while stepping into a more secluded room. When Daniel asked what they were going to do, Arthur replied, "Read your Shakespeare. When the son challenges the father, only one is left standing."

Daniel then had to keep his horror in check as Arthur admitted he was willing to kill his firstborn son. They turned to look at Nathan again, and he was sure the man could see the fear on his face when he returned a slightly concerned look.

"By the way," Arthur inquired. "Have you heard from Maury, lately?"

Daniel gulped. "Not in a few days, no," he replied. "He was at Hartsdale, the last I saw of him."

"What was he doing there, again?" Arthur wondered before Angela waved him over to meet some guests.

**Brooklyn, New York - April**

Gabriel Gray pondered his next action. He knew what he had done was wrong.

_My name is Brian Davis. Can you make it go away? _he had pleaded to the man who called himself Sylar Gray.

_Don't worry Brian, _he had said. _I can fix it._

It haunted his every waking moment. He knew he had to be punished as he could not be forgiven. He checked the rope once more and pulled out the chair.

When he kicked the chair away, all he saw was what he had done to the innocent man who only sought his help. He struggled for breath as he flailed about, choking to death. He heard another, different sound and suddenly fell to the floor.

A young blonde pulled the rope free of his neck. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Forgive me," he panted and began to sob as she comforted him. "I've done something unforgivable," he confessed after pulling himself together.

"Everybody does bad things, she consoled him. "You think I haven't felt exactly like you're feeling right now?" she asked. "Maybe if you talk about it-"

"I can't!" he snapped. He hung his head a moment. "A man had something I wanted but I took it at a terrible price," he confessed.

"I know it's hard to imagine, but you're going to get through this," she said. "Because you're not a bad person."

He looked up at her. "You don't even know anything about me," he told her.

"I know what I see," she replied. "A man who deserves a second chance." She looked into his eyes. "The rope broke," she lied. "Don't tell me that's not a sign."

He gave a soft laugh. "I don't even know your name."

"Elle."

"Elle. Look at you, Elle, just showing up out of nowhere," he said. "Like an angel."

She laughed. "An angel with a broken watch," she told him, holding up the timepiece.

She soon left, drumming her fingers along the side of a white van belonging to the PrimaTech Paper Company. Noah Bennet opened the back door, exposing their surveillance equipment. She wondered again why they didn't do the usual "bag and tag" on Gray.

Bennet explained it with the metaphor of whale migration song. It was unknown until chanced upon in the wilds of the Pacific Ocean. "They don't sing in captivity," he explained. "What Mr. Gray can do is extraordinary," he continued. "The ability to transfer power from one vessel to another is extremely rare."

"Yeah, but how do I get him to do it?" she wondered.

He thought a moment. "Pie."

She stared at him in disbelief, unsure if he was sincere or making a double entendre.

**September, Odessa, TX**

Eric Thompson discussed Meredith Gordon's rap sheet with her after capturing her in Tennessee. Her brother Flint narrowly escaped capture, she believed. Thompson offered her a job working for the Company.

"Me, an agent?" she scoffed. "I don't think so."

"Why do you hate the Company so much?"

She hesitated. "I have my reasons."

Then I would ask you to put those reasons aside and make the sensible decision," he advised her. "That, or spend the rest of your life in an asbestos-lined cell."

She reconsidered. "One condition," she replied. "Promise me the Company won't go after my brother." When he reminded her she wasn't in a position to negotiate, she could only sullenly reply, "When do I start?"

**New York City**

Angela tried once more to convince Arthur to join them for Peter's nursing school graduation party. He demurred, making lame excuses.

"Be patient with him," she conspired. "When his powers manifest, Peter will become a great man," she reminded him once more. He gave a brief nod of acknowledgement, but his patience waiting for his younger son to manifest was growing thin.

Nathan entered the garden, his mother telling him to forget coaxing his father along. Arthur called him over, then asked him to hand off the Linderman case for personal reasons. Nathan refused and started to leave but felt his father watching him and turned back for a moment.

"You look good in a suit, Nathan," he said. Nathan shrugged it off and wondered if insanity ran in the family. He didn't see his father turn back to his white roses and snip a bloom.

That night, after leaving Peter's party, Nathan was attacked. His convertible was driven into the median, crippling Heidi while his fledgling flight ability kicked in instinctively, saving him from harm until he realized he didn't know how to land, yet. He would later lie and say he was thrown clear.

Peter had to intervene when Nathan attacked Arthur in the hospital's waiting room a few hours later. Nathan told his father in no uncertain terms he would go down, too, if he stood by Linderman over his family. "Time to choose a side, Dad," he warned. "Your client or your family."

Angela had no clue what he was talking about. Arthur returned home almost immediately, Angela staying to wait with her sons. When she did return, her husband seemed casually indifferent to Heidi's well-being.

She asked him about what Nathan had said about Linderman. Arthur told her he would never act on his own. Angela agreed, but she knew something wasn't right about that.

Arthur pushed the point, arguing his position as a DA made Nathan a lot of enemies. She agreed that point, but insisted he tell her the truth, did he order their friend to kill their son? When he said no, she knew he was lying, but acted like she was relieved to hear it and played along. She knew something had happened, but didn't know what.

**September, Austin, TX**

"Danny Pine?" the man asked.

"Who wants to know?" the homeless vet answered, lounging in the discarded recliner.

"Come with me," he said, motioning the man to follow him.

Pine stared blankly for a minute, then rose and followed the heavyset man into his car. He didn't even protest as the man injected a tranquilizer in his left arm.

"Don't be causing no trouble now," he warned the subjugated man.

As he pulled away, he saw in his rearview mirror a familiar nondescript vehicle pull into the spot he had just vacated. A familiar man and his new blonde partner got out and entered the homeless camp. Maury Parkman smiled in triumph.

**Brooklyn, NYC**

Noah Bennet watched the hidden camera feed as Gabriel Gray dismantled the map of leads he had copied from Chandra Suresh's notes. He stopped to examine one list with five names (and a sixth addendum) before tossing it on the table as someone knocked.

It was Elle, offering pie. They made small talk, he admitted he was cleaning up his mess when she noticed his list. "It's just a list of people like me," he admitted.

"Nice, single guys like you?" she quipped, glancing at the list. Even though one of the names was dubious and one was obviously female, half of the names were of women. "Maybe I should take this list," she offered.

He grabbed the paper from her, crumpled it and tossed it in the can. He then decided to reveal what his secret was to her. "I have a kind of power, an ability, that's out of the ordinary," he admitted.

She played dumb. "I don't understand."

He showed her, moving a dish rack along the counter, then flipping a fork back into the sink with his newly acquired telekinesis. She gasped. In the van, Bennet smiled.

"The other people on the list," he began to explain, "they can do things, too."

"Wait," she turned to him, surprised he knew about any other Specials. "There are others?"

"What kind of pie did you bring?" he asked, turning away.

Dumbfounded, she replied, "Peach."

"That's my favorite kind," he replied, smiling.

As he busied himself getting plates for the pie, she quickly snatched the list from his trash. Bennet watched in triumph.

**Odessa, TX**

Thompson escorted Meredith back to her cell, telling her it was only temporary until they knew they could trust her, gain their respect with her loyalty. They would track down Pine again later.

"Meredith?" came a familiar Southern drawl as they passed a cell.

"Flint?" she yelped as she turned to face her brother. "What are you doing here?"

She turned to glare at Thompson as Flint claimed he had been tackled by an invisible man. He rolled his eyes and said, "Tripped over his own two shoes, knocked himself out."

Meredith gave her brother a scornful look. "They offer you the same deal they offered me?" he said, ignoring the other man. She gave him a confused look. "They gonna train me, Mer', to become an agent like them. I'm gonna get to wear one of them suits and everything," he boastfully chuckled.

"Flint," she replied, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"It's gonna be great, Mer'," he told her. "It's gonna be you and me, working together."

She turned to glare at Thompson once again. "Is there a problem?"

"No sir," she replied. "No problem at all." He motioned down the corridor and she paused to glare at her idiot brother once more before being led back to her cell. Flint saluted his 'superior officer', who only gave an amused smirk to the man as he left.

**Brooklyn, NYC**

On his monitors, Noah Bennet watched Elle Bishop give Gabriel Gray the ego-stroking he so desperately needed for them to string him along in his spartan apartment. One long wall was devoted entirely to a nearly filled bookshelf, with a small desk and a reading chair covered in plastic in front of it. They sat in front of the chair on a red area rug as they ate and talked. A curio cabinet was to Gray's right and in the background, a neatly made single bed next to another filled bookshelf. Bennet silently wondered if this guy had ever had such a lengthy conversation with a grown woman before, much less anything else.

Gray compared his ability to a drug you craved, so Elle inquired how many others he knew about. He had no clue, claiming he didn't really want to know. He started babbling about being an addict, having a "hunger", and coveting the powers of others. He then admitted her presence pushed those thoughts away. She started to blush. She told him he was "Special just the way you are." He smiled.

Bennet mocked her with that as she rejoined him, teasing her that he thought she was going to burst into song. He then told her they needed to push forward, get him to kill again. When she denied she thought he would, bringing out the list, he reminded her of their objective, that "Gray is a killer. The only question is, will we witness the act, or will he do it in a dark alley somewhere?"

She was tempted to accuse him of something when he was alone in the van, but thought better of it. Instead, when she argued Gray wasn't like that anymore, he realized she was crushing on the man. He took the list from her and suggested the second name, Trevor Zeitlan. Not only was he local, but easy pickings for Gray. When she argued this, he tossed her coat at her and told her to make a new life for herself there in New York, reminding her she wasn't an agent if she couldn't follow orders. She scoffed. "Your father has been training you for this since you were four years old," he told her. "Now come on. Let's introduce Mr. Zeitlan to Mr. Gray."

She wasn't happy about it.

**New York City**

"I'm sorry, Arthur," Daniel apologized as they walked along the second story balcony of Manse Petrelli, "I don't know how he survived that crash."

"You know how badly you screwed this up?" Arthur told him. "Now Nathan's out for blood."

"Maybe we should rethink this," Daniel insisted. "I mean a second attempt is bound to look suspicious, and who knows how Angela's going to react?"

"What do you suggest?" Arthur asked as they descended the steps, past her portrait. "We abort?"

"No, not abort," the healer replied. "No. We postpone."

"You're not thinking this through," the lawyer argued. "The plan for New York has been years in the making. Do we postpone that, too?"

Daniel sighed. "No. No, not necessarily."

"I don't know, Daniel," Arthur warned, "sometimes I think you're outliving your usefulness."

Linderman kept his thoughts to himself. "You know, you're right, Arthur. We should finish this," he agreed. "I know a guy in Montreal," he offered. "He worked for me in Vegas. He's good. Now, I can fly him down tonight-"

Arthur turned, just noticing his wife was listening to their conversation at the other end of the hall. Linderman had already spotted her as he descended, but said nothing. She stared at them in horror.

Arthur went to her. "Angela," he called to her. She bolted. "Angela!"

She made her way into the kitchen and pulled a knife on her husband, eyes frantic.

"_It has to be done_," he pushed into her mind with his stolen telepathy.

"Arthur, don't," she warned as he stepped closer. Linderman caught up with them, but stayed out of the way.

"_You know I'm right. It has to be done_," Arthur pressed on.

"He's my baby," she argued.

"_Say it_," he pushed.

"My baby."

"_Nathan has to die. It has to be done_," he repeated.

"Nathan has to die," she finally repeated in a monotone.

Daniel made up his mind what had to be done.

**Odessa, TX**

Meredith stormed into the cell area, knocking on her brother's window. "Put your shoes on!" she ordered to his confusion. "There's a train yard a half mile from here," she explained, opening the cell. "We can catch a freight straight on into Houston."

"What about us being agents?" he asked, to her chagrin. "At least these people been nice to me."

"You're an idiot and they know it," she told him. "You remember what daddy used to say. 'God gave you a big sister instead of a brain.' Now put your shoes on. Now."

Soon enough, they were on their way, hiding in a freight car. She tossed out an idea of what to do, he was still upset with her. "Flint, you can't ever trust the Company," she reminded him. "They'll lie to you, lock you up or worse." He ignored her. "You hear me, Flint? You got to promise me that you'll never, ever-uh!"

Flint looked at his sister in confusion as she fell to the floor. That's when he saw Thompson reloading his taser. "You killed her!" he shouted. "You killed my sister!"

Thompson couldn't help but goad the man into a fight and just missed being barbecued by the intense blue fire that shot out at him. His hair was only singed, though. He barely glanced at Meredith before giving chase in the cramped, moving quarters. He would have words with Hank, later, about falling for her seductive deception and escape. Serves him right, he thought, and mused he would get a few other agents to ask Hank about his "fire crotch".

Meredith sprung up as soon as he had passed, her body's natural immunity to her elemental ability giving her some resilience. She was glad the charge hadn't made her burn anything in reflex with all the dry chemicals surrounding them. She moved to the opposite end of the rail car her brother had gone. She spied Thompson nearing his location, giving him a warning shout that drew the agent back toward her. Flint crept out and followed, but she jumped the man before her brother could kill him.

Flint forced the car door open and bailed on her as she threw Thompson off of her. He cursed after the more dangerous of the fugitives. "Why'd you have to screw this up?" he accused as she followed him toward the open door.

"Oh come on!" she argued. "Flint, an agent?"

"We could have given him purpose!" he argued. "Now, he's our sworn enemy."

Meredith had had enough without cheesy one-liners. "Well then, so am I!" she shouted and hurled her flame at him.

He ducked, but not fast enough to avoid getting the other side of his hair singed. He'd have to worry about that later, as her flame had inadvertently set the dry chemicals being transported on fire. She pushed past him to the open door to jump clear. He followed suit and neither had time to get ready as the explosion pushed them out of further harm's way.

**New York City**

Angela had given the maid the afternoon off, insisting on making dinner herself that night. The idea had occurred to her to make Arthur's favorite lentil soup from his mother's recipe. She didn't hear Daniel enter, catching her off guard as he commented on the aroma.

"MMM! That smells good," he chuckled. "Almost as good as my pot pies," he teased.

"Daniel," she greeted him. "I think Arthur's downtown."

"Yes. He is," he acknowledged.

"What's on your mind?" she asked, adding the chopped vegetables to the pot.

"The question is, Angela," he began ominously, "what isn't on yours?" She gave him a curious look. "Look, it wasn't an easy decision to come," he confided. "But, believe it or not, I still have a shred of morality left in me somewhere," he confided as she stirred the soup. "I can no longer stand by and watch him destroy you like this."

She nervously scoffed at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she demurred. "I know he's working on a project," she acknowledged, then stumbled her thoughts. "I don't remember the details right now, but I'm sure it has to be done." She somehow knew it wasn't true, but it seemed important, she thought as she hand shredded more ingredients into the pot.

Daniel leaned close to her. "I can't push a thought into your head, Angela," he said before dropping into a whisper, "but I can heal the scars."

She turned to look at him in shock. "What scars?" she denied, bustling about to chop more ingredients.

"For all the times he's forced his thoughts, erased your memories," he began, "each time he leaves his mark, a trace of damaged tissue."

"I don't believe you," she decried, chopping faster. "Arthur would never do that to me."

"Arthur is betraying you in the most heinous way possible," he told her.

She slammed down her knife. "How dare you?"

"He's gonna kill your son," he told her.

She slapped him. "You're a liar."

He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I can heal the scars, Angela," he confided. "But you have to decide. Do you want to live in blind obedience," he asked, his voice choking, "or do you want to know the truth?"

She stared into those bright blue eyes she had known almost her entire life. He was pleading with her. She slowly grabbed his hands off her shoulders and placed them on either side of her head. She closed her eyes.

Everything became clear to her once more. "Nathan!"

Daniel Linderman gave his dear friend a sad, but impressed smile. A plan was made.

**Odessa, TX**

Eric Thompson led Meredith Gordon away from the disaster she had inadvertently caused. "You never answered my question. Why do you hate the Company so much?"

"Because they killed my baby girl," she replied dully. "It was fourteen years ago," she explained after a moment. "They caught up with me in this little town off the Panhandle. Stormed in at night. There was a firefight. The place went up like kindling. And my little girl, Claire, she was killed in the fire."

Thompson caught the name. "Claire," he repeated. "That's what they told you? She died in a fire," he said distractedly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she accused.

He glanced around, then cut her bonds. "Go. Go on before I change my mind," he told her. She stared at him in disbelief. "Think of it as a 'get out of jail free' card," he told her. "For your little girl. Go."

She walked off, never realizing her daughter was below, brazenly walking into the danger that her mother had caused, and saving a man's life.

**Brooklyn, NYC**

Elle made small talk with Gabriel as she finished dinner, waiting for the 'experiment' to begin. Finally, there was a knock at the door. Gabriel gave her a confused look as she explained she had invited someone to join them for dinner. Someone from his list, she explained, as she introduced Trevor Zeitlan to him. Gabriel didn't know what to make of the stringy haired man wearing mascara in his home. He was as offended at Elle for doing this as much as he was intrigued by Trevor's potential.

"I really think it's important for you to get to know people like yourself," she told him. "I mean, alcoholics can't do it alone." Trevor hung back, smug look on his face, smirking at her comment. "Trevor, why don't you show us what you can do," she implored him.

Gabriel had a passing thought that Trevor thought he was there for another reason entirely. He was disgusted by the man, but his curiosity overwhelmed anything else as the newcomer glanced around, spying something behind Gabriel.

Trevor raised his arm, then pointed at the glass, dropping his thumb as if firing an imaginary gun. One of the glasses Gabriel had set out for himself and Elle exploded. Then the second did likewise as he repeated the action.

"Wow, that is so cool," Elle enthused. Gabriel stared at the man who was very pleased with himself. "Gabriel, isn't that special?" she asked before a thought occurred to her. "Wait here, I have a great idea," she said and went to get more things for Trevor to destroy.

Gabriel felt something shift inside of him. He was Hungry.

Trevor exploded another set of glasses. "Isn't that special?" Elle enthused again, heading back for more glassware.

Gabriel grew angry. "You think he's so special?" he asked. "I bet he can't do this." He waved his hand and Trevor flew back into yet another bookcase with a yell, knocking books and shelves everywhere.

"Gabriel!" she cried out, anxiously.

He paused, considering his next action before turning to her. "I think you need to leave. Now."

"Gabriel, don't," she nervously warned before stunning him with a bolt of electricity. He fell to the floor as did Trevor, momentarily freed from his grip.

"How did you-" he gasped.

"Gabriel, please," she begged. "You don't have to do this."

He was on his feet in an instant. "Who are you?" he demanded. She backed away, then he threw her back, dangerously near one of Bennet's hidden cameras, risking further exposure. Bennet tore off his headset and grabbed his weapon, when he heard, "Get out." He turned back to see Elle flee the apartment.

Gabriel turned back to Zeitlan, who tried to use his ability on the distracted man in glasses. He found himself pinned once again to the wall.

Gabriel approached him slowly, one hand outstretched, holding him in place. The other came up and pointed at the other man's skull. Pain cut across Trevor's head and his vision was soon obscured by crimson.

Elle stormed across the busy night street and into the Company van. "We can't do this," she pleaded. "Bennet, we have to make him stop."

"This is incredible," he replied, amazed at the scene taking place on his monitors. Elle turned away in horror. "He actually exposes the brain," he noted in awe.

Upstairs, Gabriel rose, task completed. He stared at his bloody hands in horror at what he'd done. He left the apartment, leaving bloody handprints on the door.

**New York City**

"This soup is delicious," Arthur enthused.

"Italian lentil," Angela replied. "Your mother's recipe."

The way she answered seemed...unexpected. "Something on your mind?" he inquired.

"What's the matter, Arthur?" she asked. "You can't see inside it?"

He brushed it off. "You just seem far away," he lied.

"I just wonder sometimes if, without your power, you'd know me at all anymore," she told him.

She glanced past him to something in the hall. Arthur looked over his shoulder to see that young, mute Haitian agent standing there, his presence otherwise empty to the older man. He glanced back to Angela as he felt something catch in his throat. Something was wrong, he realized. He wiped his mouth as his gut started to hurt.

"Indigestion?" she asked calmly. "So what do you think, Arthur? Do you still know me?" she asked. "Can you tell anything about me just by looking in my eyes?

He was now aware something was definitely going on. "You're my wife, Angela. I know you like I know my own heart," he appeased her.

"Really?" she asked, with a sad smile. "So, what am I gonna do now?" she asked. "Am I gonna kiss you, or am I gonna kill you?"

Arthur's throat began closing, his chest tightened. He rose, trying to 'walk it off.'

"Our son, Arthur," she accused. "Our own son."

"There are larger issues at stake here," he argued, returning to the table. "You can't let sentimentality derail everything that we worked so hard for."

"I'm sentimental because I don't want to murder our son?" she asked, forcing herself to remain calm.

"We were gonna rebuild the world," he reminded her, wishing the Haitian would leave so he could feel better.

"You were a great man, Arthur," she told him softly. He turned on her. "You were a visionary, but somewhere along the line, you lost your soul."

"And I make no apology-" he choked out before the pain in his body forced him to pause. He realized what had happened, looking to the soup bowl then back to his wife.

"I lied," she told him. "It's not your mother's recipe."

She lifted her wine to her lips as he collapsed to the floor. The look on her face could not be called regret.

The Haitian quickly gathered what they would need to transport the body. Angela returned with her purse, pulling out her pass card. "Use the incinerator on Level 3," she instructed, handing off the card. "Use my pass card to grant you access. Should anyone ask, he's a casualty of a field op."

He nodded understanding and turned to fetch the body, when they heard the front door open. "Ma?" came Nathan's voice.

She gasped, "Nathan," as the Haitian turned to her and they hurriedly made a new plan.

"Anybody home?" Nathan called out from the foyer. "Ma?"

She went to cut him off just as he discovered the body. She faked surprise as Nathan told her, "I think he's had a heart attack." He leaned down as Angela inquired after him. "He's still breathing. He's still alive," he told her, pulling out his cell to call 911.

**September - Brooklyn, NYC**

Noah had been teamed with Elle again. They had been asked to investigate the death of a man named Chandra Suresh, possibly by Sylar. The man's name was not unknown to him, as many at the Company had been briefed he could be a potential ally or nemesis in their jobs should they ever cross paths. He finished his call-in report as Elle joined him, accusing, "We created a monster! We set him loose on the world!"

Great, after nearly six months, she was still on about Gray, he silently groused. "I wouldn't worry too much about that," he consoled her offhandedly. "I get the feeling that we'll be tracking down Mr. Gray again soon."

"That's not the point!" she argued. "He had a soul, Bennet. He could have been saved."

"We're not missionaries," he countered. "If they had wanted us to bring him in, that would've been the assignment. It wasn't," he reminded her. "We follow orders, Elle. We're agents. That's what we do."

He left her on the sidewalk as he took the taxi recently vacated by Peter Petrelli, he noticed to his amusement.

"Where to my friend?" the Indian geneticist behind the wheel asked.

"JFK, please," he replied with a smirk. One order of paranoia coming up, then home to his family for a few days before he was off again to India to investigate the office of his cab driver's father.

**New York City**

Nathan insisted on calling Peter, Angela told him to wait until they had news so as not to worry him. Then she saw Dr. Livitz headed toward them. He was one of their agents, placed here so he could report any 'anomalous' injuries. She looked to Nathan as the doctor began his report.

"I'm sorry. He's gone," he told Nathan. "He suffered a massive coronary brought on by anterior myocardial infarction. There was nothing we could do."

"Heart attack?" was all Nathan understood. Peter was the nurse, he would understand this better, explain it to them.

"I'd like a cremation as soon as possible," Angela told the doctor. He advised them to go home and rest, deal with the paperwork later then left. "I can't believe it," she told her son. "He's dead." She pulled him close, knowing she would do it all over again to save her child.

Unknown to her, Livitz lied. Acting under the instructions of the revived Arthur, he would find a new body they could cremate in his place, but the prognosis for Arthur wasn't good. "I'm afraid the poison caused irreversible damage to the peripheral nervous system," he explained. "The paralysis will likely be permanent. I'm sorry."

Arthur lay there, pondering how Angela had regained her memories. Only two possibilities came to mind, Daniel Linderman's healing touch, or Maury Parkman's own telepathic prowess. Maury had gone off the grid weeks earlier. Besides, he couldn't undo the damage that Arthur's tampering had caused. That left Linderman, his only chance at healing. Then again, there was another possibility...

Days later, Angela would scold her sons, "Let's not idolize your father because he's dead. He wasn't a god, he was a man." She turned to look at the urn again. "Deeply flawed in ways you would never know."

**March, Newark, NJ**

Maury approached the taxidermist's home-slash-office, pausing only to scan for it's proprietor before he entered the building. He shivered from the bitter cold wind.

"I'll be out in a minute," a raspy voice called out from a back room as the door's entry bell tinkled upon the mentalist's entrance.

Maury casually glanced around, keeping watch on the thoughts of the men as he rubbed his hands, trying to warm them up. He frowned as he heard the man silently curse his failing health.

"I'm sorry, it's getting hard to get around these days," he apologized, entering the room and dragging a small oxygen tank on wheels behind him. "Can I help you, Mr.-?"

"Adam sends his regards," Maury answered as he turned to face the man. If he hadn't already been pale from his illness, he would have upon realizing who he was dealing with.

Samson Gray regarded him a moment until he started coughing again. He pulled the oxygen mask over his mouth, trying to catch his breath as he slumped into a chair. Maury waited.

When he had finally calmed down, he quietly said, "I don't have the strength to play games, any more. Let me die in peace."

"Mr. Monroe has need of your talents," Maury informed him.

"Adam doesn't need me," he wheezed. "Adam is only interested in-"

"Your son has manifested," Maury said casually. Samson eyed him, but didn't say anything. "Do you want to know how many he's killed so far?"

Samson was quiet for a minute. "That explosion in New York? That was him, wasn't it? You stopped it?"

"That's what everyone thought would happen," Maury replied. "Your son _was_ there, but it was one of the Petrelli boys who actually almost caused it. The other one flew him away at the last moment, saving the city. Linderman's agents managed to pull your boy to safety," he said this last in a quiet anger.

"Yours was there, too, I take it?"

Maury nodded. "He tried to shoot your son to stop him, but he somehow reversed the bullets, nearly killing my boy," he said somberly.

"So your boy is a Company agent?"

Maury shook his head. "No. He had other concerns for being there, but it wasn't the first time our boys had crossed paths in recent months. My son became a cop. He was tracking yours from LA to New York with some FBI agent."

Samson nodded. "So, what happened to my son?" he inquired.

"Nakamura's boy. The one Adam was waiting for all these years. Stabbed him with a sword, Adam's from the look of it. Like I said, Linderman's agents extricated him from the scene while the others were distracted from the explosion," he explained. "They nearly lost him, but he managed to survive and somehow make it back to New York from some remote jungle in South America where they sent him to mend I'm told."

Samson smiled in pride, then a thought occurred to him. "He has healing abilities?"

Maury shook his head again. "Not that we've been able to determine. Linderman was killed the same night of the incident, but it seems that that was done by the Hawkins boy. Beyond that, the Company managed to dampen his abilities for a time, but it's apparent he has regained some of them."

Samson nodded in acknowledgement. "Why tell me all this? Why now?"

Maury smiled. "Adam is out. He wants your help," he explained. "He's even offering to help reunite you with your son."

Samson regarded Maury a moment. "For what price?"

Maury smiled.

**JFK Airport**

"Here's a picture of my mother," Mohinder said, handing her a small photo of his parents. "That's so you can identify her when you get there and, just in case-"

"I know, Mohinder," Molly replied sadly, glancing at it before shoving it in her jeans pocket. "I don't want to go yet! Matt-"

"I will inform Matthew as soon as I see him," he replied. "Don't worry, he will understand why I'm doing this." She looked at him, lips trembling. "It's for your own safety, Molly," he consoled her. "You know we don't want to lose you to that-" He couldn't finish, but she nodded in understanding.

"Will I see you again?" she asked.

"Of course you will," he assured her, glancing around to the stewardesses at the gate. A young, petite blonde made eye contact and stepped toward them. "Now remember, I love you, Matt loves you, and you will call and email us both as soon as you arrive, correct?"

"-and every hour on the hour after," she added, hugging him goodbye. "I love you two, Mohinder."

He held her tight for a moment, then stood and handed the stewardess her boarding pass, which Elle had paid for with Company funds. They were the lesser of two evils at the moment. Besides, the girl had insisted. He was beginning to think she was actually a nice person under that psychotic exterior. He watched Molly reluctantly follow the young woman past the boarding gate, then turned to leave.

"Are you ready for an adventure?" she asked the girl.

"I'm visiting my foster father's mother for a while," she answered, fighting back tears. "There was a bad man after my family."

"Oh. I-I'm sorry to hear that, sweetie," she replied, pausing and looking back the way they had come and biting her lip.

"What's your name?" Molly asked her.

The blonde looked down at her with sad eyes. "Daphne," she replied.

"Why are you sad?"

"I'm afraid you're not going to make it to India, Molly," she apologized.

Molly gasped in shock. She cried out to Mohinder as she felt herself pulled along like a straw in a hurricane.

Mohinder stopped and looked back at the boarding gate he had passed through several times, now. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary other than a sudden breeze, but he could swear he heard Molly call his name. He shook it off as guilt. He had to get back home to see how much Elle had spent on new clothes for the penniless Maya. As he did, he silently wondered how he could survive like this, in a world where people around him had extraordinary abilities while he had nothing but his intellect and his father's research.

In a darkened room, Arthur Petrelli lay concentrating. He reached out with his previously rarely used but improving telekinesis and pulled the computer cart closer to his bed so he could see the screen. He visualized the mouse moving, opening files, keys tapping seemingly of their own accord. His time was limited, he had to summon help as quickly as he could. He wished he had his reading glasses.

**Botswana, Africa**

Hiro woke from his spirit walk with a new understanding of events. "He's alive!" he exclaimed in his native tongue.

Ando was glad to see his friend would be alright.

"We must warn Angela Petrelli!" Hiro announced, rising to his feet. "And Nathan! And Matt Parkman! And Flint's sister, Meredith, as she may be able to-"

Ando cut him off. "Hiro! Slow down!"

Hiro ran outside and began scanning the cliffs. "Yes!" he exclaimed as Ando chased after him. "I know what I must do!"

"Hiro!" Ando called after his friend. "Hiro! What are you-"

Hiro vanished in a blink.

"Wha-?" He couldn't believe his eyes. Hiro had left him behind. "Hiro!" he called out to thin air.

"Do not worry about your friend," Usutu said, joining the remaining man. "He has a destiny to fulfill, as do you."

Ando looked at the shaman in confusion. "Huh?"

"Walk with me, my friend," he said and marched off.

Ando had no choice but to follow. He didn't even notice the new painting Usutu had made, or he would have questioned the red lightning bolts surrounding his own portrait.

TBC_


	5. Chapter 9 Alignment

HEROES: Villains

ch.9 - Alignment

Disclaimer: just playing with Tim Kring's toys. I own nothing.

A/N: many Heroes fans were bothered by the throwaway murder of Adam by Arthur. I got to thinking: what if Arthur's plan went awry and Adam turned the tables on him? Canon up to 3.5, then AU. Assume other arcs hold true canon until I alter them. Yes, a LOT of the dialogue is taken from the episodes for now, but things are slowly beginning to change.

_Previously..._

_Arthur Petrelli's plan for resurrection by trapping his wife Angela in her own mind and stealing the regenerative ability of his former mentor, Adam Monroe, has backfired due to the abused trust he placed in his former friend, Maury Parkman. Adam has now co-opted Arthur's plans for world domination, seeking revenge for thirty years of imprisonment by the Company. However, this deception has had unforeseen consequences, unbeknownst to Arthur's betrayers._

_While Adam has succeeded in recruiting more players to his cause than Arthur had planned, he keeps his ultimate goal secret from even his most trusted allies. He even sacrificed his right hand man, Maury Parkman, just to prove a point to the speedster, Daphne Millbrook._

_Peter Petrelli tried to confront Adam, but wound up his captive before the man known as Sylar came to free the man he now believed to be his brother. He sacrificed his own safety to ensure Peter's survival after learning that the man posing as the late Daniel Linderman was in fact, his own father, Samson Gray. _

_Claire Bennet and Elle Bishop arrived at Pinehearst seeking help just in time to see Peter being thrown from the seventh story window of the building. While Claire tries to help her uncle escape, Elle runs inside, hoping anew they can help remove her now-erratic ability as they removed Peter's._

_Meanwhile, the speedster, Daphne Millbrook, failed to convince Matt Parkman to join Pinehearst and was ordered to kill him instead. Matt barely managed to persuade her against it when Eric Doyle broke in to finish the job Adam knew she would not complete. After a brief stand off, Doyle believed himself to be victorious, killing both Millbrook and Parkman, but it turned out to be a psychic ruse on Matt's behalf, buying time to marshal allies in the coming fight._

_In Africa, Hiro Nakamura had been sent to recruit the precognitive shaman, Usutu, to Pinehearst. Usutu convinced Hiro there were other paths to his destiny and has sent the reluctant time traveler on the same spirit quest as he sent Matt Parkman so Hiro may learn of how events have happened and what he must do to prevent disaster. Hiro has seemingly abandoned his friend, Ando Masahashi, upon completing his spirit walk, disappearing to parts unknown. Usutu and Ando now embark on a quest of their own._

Gabriel Gray stood watching the repairmen put the finishing touches on the window he threw Peter Petrelli out of. He pondered the events of the last few days.

The man posing as Daniel Linderman approached him from behind, clapping him on the shoulder. "Still hard to believe Peter survived that fall without his powers," he mused, hinting he knew the truth. He relaxed back to his natural face as the workmen left.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about that myself," he answered.

"You know, Gabriel," he began, noticing the younger man flinch at his use of his birth name, "there will come a time. Maybe tomorrow, next week, next year, when you realize the," he paused, searching for the right word, "hunt, your entire life, is meaningless and disappointing...because there's no challenge in it." He looked to his protégé, examining him for a moment. "You know, all the power in the world doesn't matter, if you've lived an unsatisfied life." Having come to a decision, he glanced back out the window, "but I think you know that already, don't you?"

Sylar regarded his new mentor's words with curiosity.

"Come, I have something to show you," the elder man said and walked out.

"Where are you taking me?" Gabriel asked as they walked along a hall.

"It's time I started acting like your father, Gabriel," he replied. "That hunger you've got, it's not about killing, it's about power," he explained. "You can take all the abilities you want. Without killing. I can teach you."

"Like shape shifting?" he mused, much to his father's consternation. "How?"

"By accessing your empathy, that part of your heart you know is there," he explained. "You've had this power all along." He stopped in front of a door.

"Empathy?" Gabriel repeated, recalling Peter had no problem sympathizing with others and he was gaining abilities just by being near people. "What makes you think I'm capable of that?"

Linderman smiled. "Because I know you're the one that saved Peter from that fall." He opened the heavy door which led into a darkened room and motioned for his son to enter.

Something sat in the far corner, Gabriel realized. No, not something, someone. Whoever it was, they were chained like a dog to a heavy bolt in the floor. He saw the long blonde locks move slightly and sparks of electricity shone brightly off her body in the shadows.

The door slammed shut and he heard the clank of it being locked from the outside. He didn't worry. He could easily let himself out telekinetically whenever he chose.

He cautiously approached the girl. She slowly stood, balls of electric light forming in her hands. "You," she growled.

Gabriel suddenly realized it was Elle. The same Elle who's father he had killed. The same Elle who, in defending herself from his attack, had knocked him on his ass and cost the Company a number of their prisoners, who he was later recruited into rounding up. The same Elle who had fed the hapless Trevor Zeitlan to him in some misguided attempt at-he still wasn't sure what she had been doing that day. He didn't have much time to think about it as the electricity crackling in her hands suddenly came shooting at him in a split second, racking his body in pain, burning most of his clothes off his body.

In his apartment, Peter Petrelli gingerly finished dressing, trying to block out the pain from his fall, as Claire informed him, "We have to get out of here."

"I know," he replied, "but you're not coming with me." She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. "I'm gonna go someplace where they can't find me, and you're gonna go home," he told her.

"Peter, I have to protect you," she insisted.

"I can protect myself," he countered.

"How? You still don't know why you don't have your powers," she reminded him. "Plus, Adam's trying to kill you."

"This isn't your fight, Claire. I need you to stay-" he faltered. The cruel, almost inhumane, Claire of the future, one who was willing to kill him -who _had_ killed his future self- flashed in his memory.

"Stay what?" she demanded.

"Innocent," he said. Before she could ask further, someone pounded on the door.

Claire pushed her uncle towards the window with the fire escape. "Run, I'll hold them off!" she exclaimed. He tried to protest, but she insisted, "I have a plan. Go!"

Peter reluctantly climbed out the window and began his descent as Eric Doyle and Flint Gordon kicked in the door. "Hey Barbie," the puppeteer greeted cheerily, then went cold. "Where is he?"

"You're never gonna find him," she stood defiant to the two bald men.

"That's cute," Flint chuckled at his niece. "She's protecting him." Doyle scoffed in agreement and Flint raised his hand. Blue flames erupted.

Doyle gave a slight shake of his head in pity as he raised his hands to grab her with his power, but she sensed a sadness in his eyes as he did so.

"Don't you know?" she boasted. "I'm the defensive player of the year." She kicked Eric back, knocking him off balance and into Flint. She briefly wondered if she had gotten lucky or-no, time to bolt. She ran to the couch and used it as a launch pad as she crashed through the window.

Peter looked up at the sound of glass breaking. The slats of the fire escape preventing any large shards from falling down onto him as he saw his niece hurtle past him to the pavement below. He momentarily wondered if she had felt the same moment of dread earlier when she saw him thrown from Pinehearst. This spurred him on, hoping the invaders weren't hot on their heels. No sooner had he rejoined her in the alley street than she was already up and moving. They heard someone else on the rickety escape and looked up to see their pursuers following, Flint yelling at Doyle to hurry up or get out of his way. "Come on," he said and began running.

"Told you I had a plan," she boasted as they ran.

"Yeah," he said, not wanting to argue, as a mural caught his attention. A cracked and burning Earth. It looked like the same one he saw in the future when his older self was killed by her elder self. He started to wonder if this was, indeed, the same one when she yelled at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, diverting his attention. "Come on, let's go!" They ran on, into the maze of New York City's back alleys.

Mohinder Suresh looked over the results of the latest round of testing. He had correlated the timing of several of the people he knew to have developed abilities last fall. The only common link outside of genetics among them in the US and Japan was the eclipse of October 1, 2006.

"Any luck yet?" came Adam's voice, providing a much needed distraction.

"If you call this luck," he groused. Mohinder motioned to the next room, where a man lay on a gurney, nearly mutated beyond recognition.

Adam glanced at the barely living corpse. "What went wrong?"

"I don't know," the geneticist replied. "I'm beginning to think it's impossible to _give_ people abilities without adverse reactions." He looked to the dying man again. "He was a human being for god's sake."

Adam turned to say something when Mohinder's monitor caught his eye. "I see we share a fascination," he said, approaching the data screens.

"It seems most of the powers I've documented initially manifested during or shortly after a total annular eclipse," he informed the immortal. "It's probably just a coincidence."

"Not so," Adam mused. "I seem to recall an eclipse the day I met Carp, er, Hiro Nakamura." He studied a video of solar flare radiation taken during the eclipse from the previous October.

This was news to Mohinder. "When was this?"

Adam thought a moment. "Oh, I'd say it was around Sixteen...Seventy, Seventy-One? Yes, that sounds about right, 1671."

Mohinder stared at him. "I-I'm sorry?" He had expected the man to say sixteen or seventeen years, but almost _three hundred and forty_?

"I told you, Doctor Suresh, I'm immortal," he explained. "I've been alive for nearly four hundred years. It wasn't until I met Carp and was shot full of arrows that I found out I couldn't be killed by any conventional means. Of the time, that is."

"I see," Mohinder replied in awe, even as two obvious options immediately sprang to mind, decapitation and immolation. He knew better than to say this to the man's face, however.

"You don't think it was some sort of virus that he brought back in time with him, do you?" Adam inquired.

"Oh, most certainly not," Mohinder replied, chuckling at the absurdity as he brushed it off and walked off to another screen. "Look here. I thought I'd successfully combined my findings with yours from thirty years ago. Theoretically, this formula is sound, but the serum is triggering a mutation because something is missing," he explained. "Some sort of catalyst that allows the proteins from the serum to bond with the enzymes produced by each individual's adrenals."

"Adrenals?" Adam echoed. "Many of the abilities I've encountered were not triggered by this, what do they call it now-?"

"Fight or Flight?" Suresh offered.

"Yes, I mean, take Angela's dreaming, Daniel's healing, Bishop's alchemy, Parkman's telepathy, none of those were instigated by any immediate need to protect or flee," he explained. "You'll just have to keep looking."

Mohinder understood Adam's list to be of people he knew, but mistook 'Parkman' for Matt, not his father, Maury, whom he only knew as Molly's Nightmare Man. He briefly wondered if Molly Walker's ability activated when Sylar attacked her home, and somehow, in her hopes of rescue, defined hers as well as triggered Matt's own latent mental ability. Even Maya admitted her poison first appeared in a moment of emotional distress. Matt's ability even seemed to evolve after a tense meeting with his father, who claimed their mind reading was only the start. But the immortal did have a point, other abilities had different triggers, like poor Dale's enhanced hearing. Had she been injected with the original Formula, much like Nathan Petrelli and the divided twin sisters, Niki Sanders and Tracy Strauss?

"It's not that simple," Mohinder countered. "The key component of this catalyst would be something that couldn't be stored or created synthetically."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning it would live in a human host," Suresh explained.

Adam considered this a moment. "You're saying this catalyst isn't something, it's _someone_?" Mohinder nodded. Adam thought a moment. "Kaito."

"I'm sorry?"

"Kaito Nakamura," Adam repeated. "He hid it, just not well enough." He turned and left the lab.

Mohinder stared after him in puzzlement, then looked to his dying patient. He hoped they would find the catalyst, the essential ingredient that could save this man's life...and his own. He absentmindedly scratched at the scales growing on his arm before catching himself and slapping his own hand in frustration. He turned back to his work.

Gabriel groaned in pain, panting as his recently acquired healing ability regenerated the damage done to him by Elle's lightning.

"I'll kill you, you sonovabitch!" she snarled, pulling at her chains. "You murdered my father!"

"Yes, I did," he acknowledged.

"How could you do that to me?" she screamed.

He rose to his feet and shucked the remnants of his burnt shirt. "I'm not gonna insult you by saying I'm sorry," he informed her. "You deserve so much more than that, Elle. You deserve vengeance." He looked her in the ye. "I'll take whatever you've got."

She gave a grim smile then unleashed her lightning across the room, striking him dead center.

Matt Parkman prowled the corridors of PrimaTech, Daphne in tow. The place was empty.

"I thought you said there were people who could help us here?" she asked.

"There were," he replied. "I don't...Where'd they all go?" he wondered then saw someone standing at the opposite end of the hall. Angela Petrelli.

"It's like a ghost town," Daphne commented as the other woman turned and walked away. Matt took off at a run.

He arrived at the door Angela had disappeared into, only to find her...unconscious in a hospital bed? He slowly approached her. No, not unconscious, she was awake, but not...aware?

"Who is that?" Daphne asked from behind him in the doorway.

"Angela Petrelli," he answered, still unsure of how she could have been in the hall a moment ago.

"Petrelli?" Daphne echoed. "What's wrong with her?"

He waved his hand in front of her face. No reaction. "I don't know." He leaned over her, "Mrs. Petrelli?" he called out. He pushed into her mind, searching for a response. The backlash of images knocked him to his knees.

"What is it?" What did you see?" Daphne asked.

"I gotta help her," Matt replied. He pulled the chair closer and grabbed Angela's hand. "I'll need you to stand guard."

Adam Monroe looked over his files on Kaito Nakamura for a clue. "Where did you hide it, Kaito?" he mused as he glanced to the next two files in his stack. One was labeled "Nakamura, Hiro" the other, "Bennet, Claire."

Peter and Claire kept a brisk pace as they wound through the back streets and alleys of New York. "We'll keep going, then separate," he told her. "You have to go home."

She started to protest, "I'm not going home, Peter."

All he could think of was what she could someday become. "You still have a chance, Claire."

"I left home so I could fight these people, and I have," she reminded him. "I can protect myself now, I can protect you."

"Providing a minor distraction isn't fighting, Claire," he told her. "That's the problem, not the solution. That alley back there? That's where you kill me."

She stopped short. "W-what?"

"In the future, you find me and you shoot me. Twice, in the chest," he informed her.

"W-why would I do that?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"Because what you are becoming is a killer," he informed her as she looked on in shock. "I'm trying really hard to make sure that future does not happen." He looked her in the eye. "I don't know if I can do it because everything that happens, _everything_, you're still becoming-"

"Who what?" she cut him off. "Who kills you? I would never-"

"Claire, just go home," he implored her once more. "Please."

She stared at him in disbelief. "No. It's not gonna happen, and it's all your fault." It was his turn to look at her in shock. "You should have never come to Odessa to save me. You should have never become my friend...or my hero," she told him. "And now I can't leave you because I have a favor to return. Saving your life."

He couldn't believe she put it that way, but didn't get the chance to argue. A loud metallic scrape caught their attention, followed by a Texas drawl of aggravation. Flint and Doyle had found them.

"Run," she told him. He started to turn as she headed back to their assailants. "Go!"

He watched her leave, but didn't want her to fight alone.

Doyle and Flint entered the alley and found Claire waiting. "You want him, you're going to have to go through me," she declared.

"You can't fight us, Claire," Doyle informed her.

"We didn't come for Peter," Flint added. "We came for you."

She turned to run, but Doyle stopped her.

"No, no! Get off of me!" she screamed. "No! Let me go!"

Peter stopped his retreat and looked back to see the men wrestle her to the ground.

Hiro entered the dojo and bowed to the man inside. "_Honored sensei," _he began in their native tongue. "_My name is Nakamura Hiro. I am here to learn whatever you can teach me. I must stop an ancient evil before he can destroy the world."_

Sensei Noriyuki Taga gave the young man a grim smile before launching to his feet and unsheathing his sword.

"Murderer!" she cried, letting another lightning bolt rip into the man. "Murderer!" she sobbed.

Gabriel slowly sat up, breathing hard as his lungs regenerated once more. "I didn't want to kill him. I didn't want to kill any of them, you know that," he told her, reminding her that she fed him his second victim after aborting his suicide attempt following his first. "This urge? I'm not gonna let it control me, not anymore."

She fired another volley into him, sustaining it as she cried, "I'll kill you. I swear to god, I'll kill you."

When she stopped, he told her, "I understand. You need to let it out."

She hit him again. He screamed again.

"The anger, the betrayal," he panted, "you can take it out on me. I can take it all."

She lit him up once more until they both collapsed, drained for the moment. She slowly looked up at him. "Go ahead, kill me. Please."

He reached out to her. The cuffs restraining her to the floor snapped open. He drew himself up and approached her.

"I want to be a good person," he said.

"You're a monster, just like me," she countered.

"No," he countered. "You saved my life once, Elle, gave me the will to live. Don't you see? I owe you."

She told him the truth. "I only saved you so we could use you like a lab rat."

He shook his head. "You were just following orders," he said, then leaned in close. "But I forgive you. Now you need to forgive yourself."

She stared at him.

Adam watched all of it from his office monitor. He smiled.

"I've got to try and get inside her head," Matt told Daphne. "See if I can unlock what's holding her."

"Is that safe? Can you get hurt?" she asked.

Matt turned to her. "I don't know. I've only, uh, done it one other time...with my dad," he confessed.

"How'd that work out?"

Matt turned back to Angela and shook his head. "Not well."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Just stay here and keep an eye on me, okay?" he asked her. "I might disappear for a while, in there." He leaned back in the chair, getting ready to head inside Angela's mind. "But I'll be back. I'll be okay," he told Daphne as much as himself. "Just knowing that you're here is going to help."

Daphne was unsure how to take this as he grabbed Mrs. Petrelli's hand, slowed his breathing, and seemed to zone out.

"Matt? Can you hear me?"

He didn't answer.

Nathan Petrelli stood outside Pinehearst, staring at the company sign. "There was a wide spot in the road, up near the Berkshires," he explained. "My father used to take us fishing there when we were kids. It was called Pinehearst."

"Nathan, are you sure you want to do this?" Tracy asked. "If Linderman's alive, maybe there's a reason-"

"He and my parents organized my whole political career," he countered. "Without him, I'd still be a DA, not a Senator," he mused. "I need to know the truth. If he's alive, I've got to see him. Find out why."

Minutes later, he opened the office door and stood face to face with the man he tried to prosecute on any number of charges. The man who may have orchestrated his car accident and then healed his now ex-wife's shattered spine, allowing her to walk again.

"My god," was all he could say as Tracy stepped into the room ahead of him.

"Good to see you, too, Nathan," the elder man replied as he finally entered the room. "I suppose a hug is out of order?"

Nathan eyed him warily, but didn't approach him, unsure of how Peter had been bereft of his own abilities.

Linderman finally turned to his companion. "You must be Miss Strauss."

"I must be," she replied and shook his hand. He brought it up for a kiss. She giggled as Nathan scowled.

"Do you have any idea what you've done to my family?" he accused. "What you've done to me?"

Linderman gave him a smug smile. Luckily, Maury Parkman had filled him in on the Company's activities the last few years, including orchestrating Nathan's current position. "Hindsight being 20/20, we should have told you sooner what your role in all of this was."

Nathan stepped closer. "My role?"

Linderman turned to Tracy. "Would you excuse us, please? The boys need to talk alone." She smiled and excused herself. He turned his attention back to Nathan. "Take a hard look at the last couple weeks of your life and you will see that role coming into focus. The assassination, the Company's help getting you elected and in that Senate seat, all part of your destiny."

"That was all you."

Linderman smiled. "You were born with a talent, Nathan, the talent to lead a nation." He put his hand on Nathan's shoulder, but the younger man quickly jerked away.

"That's the same crap you spouted before. I'm not falling for that again," he protested. "Last time it was New York City that was nearly destroyed, this time it will be the world, right?"

"Look around you, it's already happening, and we've got the formula that will stop it."

"You're insane," he countered and turned away to unwittingly face out the same window his brother had been thrown through recently.

Linderman came up alongside him. Nathan fought a shiver and crossed his arms. "I'm not afraid to admit you have always been my favorite, Nathan. The strong one. We can save the world together. This can be our Legacy, Nathan. I am offering you this chance as a favor to your father."

Nathan didn't even realize he had grabbed his shoulder.

"He wants to give half the planet superpowers," he explained to Tracy as they left the Pinehearst building, "so that we can save the planet together, with me as President."

"And you believed him?"

"I don't know what to believe," he countered. "Nothing makes any sense. I thought the man was dead. I don't even know what to do with my life now that I know he's still alive."

"Hold on a minute," she interrupted him. "You are a US Senator. You've got an entire constituency riding on you having a clear vision for what you believe in."

"Good luck with that," he said and walked away.

"No, you need to listen to me," she yelled after him. "You've got to snap the hell out of this." She followed him down the walk. "You have to get yourself together. Do you understand?" He ignored her. "We should go back to Washington," she suddenly decided. "We should get the Justice Department involved."

"No," he cut her off. "Let's keep a lid on it. For now." She started to protest, but he protested again. "No. the last time I tried to tell anybody anything like this, my brother came back from the future and shot me. Twice."

He started to pull on his jacket. "I'm gonna go to PrimaTech. See what else my mother knows," he told her as he zipped up. "You go to Washington, cover for me. I'll be back in touch when I know what our next move is, okay?" He looked up and then flew off into the clear blue sky.

Tracy returned to Linderman's office. "Let me guess, you want me to take away your power, too, hmm?"

"No, actually," she replied. "I don't know how you did it, but that's not why I came back. I'm here because I think that you and I can help each other."

"Can we now?"

"And all I ask on my end is that you look out for me once the dust settles." He finally looked up from his files at her. "See, I believe that you have a PR problem. I pride myself on knowing how the tides turn. I know how the world works and for your plan to succeed, you need a public face," she continued as she sat down opposite him. "Now, normally, that would be you. Problem is, the world thinks you're dead."

"A thorny issue, I admit," he said gruffly, but amused.

"I think Nathan can be that face," she informed him. "The bad news, he's on the fence. The good news, I can push him over." Linderman smiled at her. "You scratch my back, and I will make sure he lands on the right side."

Back at PrimaTech, Matt felt himself slowly sliding into Angela's mind. He didn't hear the monitors beeping in the real world or Daphne asking if he could hear her.

He found himself in the corridor, Nathan, Peter, and what looked like a well dressed Niki(?) all laying bloody and dead as Angela stood over them. Suddenly, he was back in her room, but it was bare except for the chair he was still sitting in. He rose and found himself back in the hall. The bodies were gone, but Mrs. Petrelli sat in a chair in the distance.

"Angela, are you okay?" he called out.

She shook her head and showed him the cuffs holding her in place.

"I'm here to help you," he told her. "I'm gonna get you out of here."

"You shouldn't have come," she told him. "He's too dangerous." Matt pulled at her cuffs. "Don't you understand? There is no escape. Even if you get them off, Arthur's locked all of the doors."

"Arthur?" Matt asked as he now found himself testing the doors and windows. "Who's Arthur?" They were all locked tight. One pair of hall doors finally gave way. "These doors are open! I can get us out of here!"

He didn't see the double shadow on the wall, but she did as Daphne walked into the hall.

"Daphne? What are you doing here?" he asked, confused. His mind was screaming '_RUN!' _but he couldn't.

"I'm here to help you, Matt," she said as a double shadow flickered behind her. She hugged him, then took him by surprise as she stabbed him.

He cried out in pain in this dream world. He cried out, "Daphne don't!" in the real world as the real Daphne approached him, worried. "No. No," he moaned as the dream Daphne held up a large knife, red with his blood.

"Matt?" the real Daphne asked. "Matt, you've got to come back," she implored and grabbed his hand. "Matt? Matt wake up," she pleaded, grabbing his side and realizing it was wet with blood. "Matt? Matt, you've got to WAKE UP!" she implored again. His breathing became erratic. "Matt, you have to bring me in there." She felt a jolt and found herself in the hall corridor, Matt lying in front of her, bleeding. "Matt, we have to go now!"

"Get away from me," he warned, pulling away.

"I came to help you," she pleaded with him.

"You stabbed me," he groaned.

"That wasn't me," she tried to reason.

"Don't believe her, Matt. Take it from me," a second Daphne said, standing nearby and holding a bloody knife. She suddenly became an older man. "A woman will betray you at every turn," he scolded. Neither recognized him.

Matt struggled to get to his feet, confused. "You're lying!"

"Really?" he countered. "How do you think I knew you were in here? She told me," he lied, nodding to the Daphne next to him, who shook her head in denial. "She betrayed you, Matt. Like Angela betrayed me." He turned to look behind him at his wife still bound to her chair. She sat stoically.

"You told him?" Matt accused Daphne.

"I don't even know who he is!" she objected.

"But she knows who I am," Daniel Linderman spoke up, appearing at the other end of the hall.

Matt had no clue who this guy was, either. Still, there was something...familiar(?) about him.

"I thought I had to," she explained to Matt. "He said he'd take it all away from me."

"What are you talking about?" Matt asked as this white bearded newcomer stepped behind Daphne, intimately. She tried to push him away.

"I can't go back to being the way that I was, Matt, but I couldn't let you die, either. I'm sorry, I just...I didn't know."

"Didn't know what?" Matt asked.

"Go on, tell him," the image of Linderman goaded her, flickering over either side of her shoulders. Matt was sure he knew this man, somehow.

"How much I cared about you," she confessed, then reminded him, "Matt, you're still bleeding. I don't know how they're doing it, but you've got to wake up or you're going to die."

"You can't trust her, Matt," Arthur distracted him. "She lies. They all lie. Send her away."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Arthur?" Linderman said, then leaned in conspiratorially. "Don't listen to him, Matt."

"No! No, don't," Daphne argued. "Matt, please," she begged. "I made a mistake. I trusted the wrong people, but...I can't lose you," she pleaded.

Matt wasn't sure what to believe.

"I love you," she finally said.

Linderman smiled over her shoulder, giving Matt a wink. He pushed Daphne forward into Matt. Matt pulled her close.

"We were once like that, Arthur," Angela finally said to her husband. "Remember?"

He turned to face her and the group found themselves in a different room. It was an office that Matt vaguely recognized as Bob Bishop's. He assumed it was made from the memories of the elder trio.

"You loved me, and there's still a part of you that still does," she continued. "So now you're going to let me go. Do you understand?"

Arthur Petrelli stared at his wife.

"I said let me go, Arthur."

"Allow me, Angie," Linderman said and snapped his fingers.

Arthur turned away as the cuffs binding her to the chair clattered to the floor.

Matt took the opportunity. He grabbed Angela's hand. "We gotta go, now!" He surged forward to run from the office and found himself back in the real world, nearly knocking over Daphne as he stood. When he realized they were out, he quickly checked his side. His shirt was damp with blood, but there was no more knife wound. (Peter would tell him later of psychosomatic wounds, where blood may flow from imagined injuries like this.)

"We did it," Daphne said, glad to be back.

"You were there," he realized. "Was that really you?"

"Yeah, you brought me in," she told him.

"And those things that you said-"

"Yeah, that was me, too, and I meant every word of it," she told him. He hugged her tight.

"Detective Parkman," came a weak voice behind them.

Matt turned to see Angela was now awake. "You okay? I'm gonna get a doctor," he told her. She nodded.

Matt and Daphne began scouting the halls once again and soon saw one of the last people they expected: Peter Petrelli.

"Parkman?" he asked.

"Peter," Matt replied, coldly, remembering the last time they had crossed paths, Peter somehow grew a scar and changed demeanor before sending him to Africa in a blink of an eye.

"She can't be trusted," Peter said, spotting Daphne.

"You're the one who can't be trusted!" Matt countered and threw his weight into the younger man, pinning him to the wall. "You shot your own brother! Sent me off to the middle of nowhere!" he accused.

"Matt, stop!" Daphne implored, trying to pull him off the other man.

"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" Peter protested.

Matt scanned his mind, only to see Peter was telling the truth. He was beside Nathan when he was shot, chased the perp, then suddenly wound up trapped in another man before his future/scarred self freed him, taking him to the same(?) future Matt had seen. If the last year had taught Matt anything, anything he could imagine was possible, now. He released his hold on the other man. "I-I-?"

"Where's my mother?" Peter asked, catching his breath.

"She's awake," he replied, pointing the way they had come.

"Test subject was injected with Batch 37 at 06:34 hours," Mohinder reported into his voice recorder. "Heart rate rose to 169 bpm, sustained at that level for two hours." He paused as the patient in front of him writhed in pain.

He leaned forward, whispering, "I am so sorry."

"Please kill me," the man begged, his face barely recognizable. "Please."

Mohinder glanced down the man's misshapen body and considered it a mercy if he did. His own salvation required keeping the poor man alive, so he opted for another sedative.

Ando Masahashi followed the African through the airport. "Where are we going? Where did Hiro go?"

The man stopped and withdrew a comic from his bag, handing it to the Japanese man. "The answers you seek are in here."

Ando looked down to see his friend's face on the cover. "9th Wonders? Hiro?" He looked back to the other man. "I don't understand."

Usutu smiled. "You will."

Ando impatiently flipped through the pages of French text and stopped on the last one. He looked at it in shock. "Hiro?" From what he could follow in the art, it was, but he didn't recognize this new image of his friend.

Peter followed Matt into Angela's room and went to her side. "Mom, thank god you're okay."

"Your father, he's alive," she said.

"I know, mo-yeahbuhwhat?" Peter said, dumbfounded. "_Dad?"_

She looked to Matt. "Both of your fathers are alive."

Matt's jaw dropped. "How do you know-?"

"Who do you think was impersonating Daniel Linderman in my head, Detective?" she chided him.

Matt could only guess she meant the white-haired man who had been hanging on Daphne. His actions seemed to make sense now.

"I talked to him today," came a new voice. Nathan pushed past Daphne into the room. "Linderman. He's still alive."

"That wasn't him, Nathan," Angela scolded her eldest. "Daniel Linderman is most assuredly dead. The man Miss Millbrook, here, had contact with, recruiting people for, was your father, Detective. Where my husband is, I do not know, but he is still alive, as well."

"Then who did I talk to, Ma?" Nathan asked.

"I'm not sure, yet, but I do know he's working with Adam Monroe, and they've got the Formula, both halves. They were supposed to be hidden away forever, but someone's stolen them right out from underneath us."

"Wait, what formula?" Matt asked.

"Peter and I have both seen the future and, trust me, it's not one that any of you want to face," she continued, ignoring Matt's query.

"Make that three of us," Matt added, having just seen the same future vision in Peter's mind, "and she's right. If that was the same future I saw?" He glanced back to Daphne.

"Whoever has the Formula has probably figured out by now there's a third piece to the equation," she explained. "The formula won't work without it."

"What kind of piece?" Peter asked.

"It's a catalyst," she replied. "Hidden away in the blood of a human host. Kaito Nakamura was the only one who knew the identity of the host." She paused to collect herself, glancing to Matt, who grimly nodded. "And Kaito, as we know, is dead."

"So how do we find the host?" Nathan asked.

"We don't have to," Matt answered. "We just have to make sure that he doesn't."

"Wait," Peter spoke up. "Claire said that Sylar told her she was different from the rest, special, when he attacked her. You don't think...?"

Angela regarded her sons. "Where is she? Where's Claire?"

"They took her," Peter admitted. "We thought they wanted me back, but they were really after her all along."

"You let those bastards take my daughter?" Nathan yelled, charging his brother. Matt tried to hold him back.

"We didn't know, Nathan!" he countered, defending himself. "They managed to take my abilities away, but since we know where they are, I thought she'd be okay until I could gather the cavalry. I'm sorry!"

"Boys! Settle down!" Angela scolded them. "We know where they are. We know they have Claire and Gabriel-"

"And now Elle," Peter added.

"We know Adam is behind this," Angela continued, "but we don't know who else is helping him."

"I might," Daphne piped up. "They did have me recruit a number of people, but I don't know who Mr. Monroe is working with. I thought he killed Matt's dad, but this Linderman was still running around after that. Maybe a shape-shifter he recruited himself?"

"Yeah, actually, I did."

The group turned to the doorway at the latest arrival.

"Hey, Angela," he said then turned to his son. "Hey Matt. No hard feelings?"

The only thing that kept Matt from attacking his father was the fact Nathan was closer and acted first, choke-slamming the man into the door before he could react.

"I'm here to help!" he choked out. "I'm here to help!"

"Let him go," Angela ordered. Nathan reluctantly did so.

Maury rubbed his sore throat. "I know who Adam's working with and how we can get inside and stop them for good."

"What about my powers?" Peter asked. "How did he take them away?"

"Easy, that was me," he replied, stepping toward the younger Petrelli.

"Don't," Matt warned him.

Maury held his hand up, "Easy, son, I'm here to help, and I only put a mental block on this kid here so we could keep him under control. Well, until Adam decided I was expendable, that is." He held his hand up to Peter's head and concentrated. "There, that should do it. Sorry, this is the first time I've seen ya since we left Pinehearst, kid."

Peter felt the power surge back into his body. "Whoa."

"You alright, Pete?" Nathan asked warily.

"Yeah, just need a minute to readjust," he said shakily as he slid into the chair by his mother's bedside.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" Maury said. "By the way, it isn't blondie who has the catalyst, Angie."

"Then who has it?" she asked.

Maury sighed and looked at his own son.

"Me? You gotta be kidding me!" Matt groaned.

"No, not you, Matty," he replied. "It's your kid."

Angela looked around at the assembled group: her sons, Nathan and Peter, her old ally, Maury Parkman and his son, Matt, and the speedster, Daphne Millbrook. Almost on cue, the Haitian joined them. They would have to do, for now.

Their mission was now threefold: Save Claire, Save the Catalyst, Stop Adam from Destroying the world.

Adam Monroe and Daniel Linderman watched as their troops assembled to show off their latest capture. Eric Doyle marched Claire Bennet into the room. They were followed by Flint Gordon, Tracy Strauss, Gabriel Gray, Elle Bishop, Mohinder Suresh, and the now-powerless Benjamin "Knox" Washington.

"What do you want from me?" Claire protested.

"Not much," Adam smiled. "Just your blood. Enough to activate the Formula and share these abilities with the entire world."

"What makes my blood so special?" she demanded.

"Oh not much, but we Regenerators are in such short supply, and I'm a very busy man." He motioned to someone behind her. "Doctor, she's all yours."

Mohinder stepped forward and withdrew a syringe, plunging it into her arm.

"Hey! What are you doing? Stop! Mohinder, please!" she begged. Then she saw the scales. Her eyes went wide in fear and confusion.

"I'm sorry, Claire," he said, withdrawing the filled needle. "You may be my only salvation."

He plunged the needle into his own arm and injected the contents. Nothing happened for a moment, then he began convulsing.

"It burns! It burns!" he screamed. He shook as if in the throes of an epileptic seizure. Finally the shaking subsided and he went limp.

"Is he dead or alive?" Adam asked as Claire sobbed.

Gabriel knelt down beside him. "Mohinder? Are you ok-ggklkk!"

Mohinder Suresh moved faster than Gabriel Gray could react, seizing him around the throat and crushing it in one motion. He then stood and threw his father's murderer across the room as if it were a rag doll. Brittle shapes went flying after, imbedding themselves in the wake of the flung arm. They imbedded themselves in the wall and in Sylar.

Mohinder looked down at his hands and arms. His scales were now part of his body's defense mechanism and could be used as shuriken, much like a porcupine can use his quills. He flexed his arms, feeling the strength flow through his body anew.

"How do you feel, doctor?" Adam asked.

Mohinder glanced over to see Gabriel rise up, his injuries healed. He smiled. "I feel...extraordinary!" he grinned.

Claire sobbed at this new turn of events. Whatever malady Suresh had suffered before, her blood had apparently cured the side effects and turned this once gentle scientist into a killing machine.

TBC_


	6. Chapter 10 Permutations

Heroes: Villains

Chapter 10: Permutations

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just playing with Tim Kring's toys. (because he don't treat them right!)

* * *

"You're getting pretty good at that," Elle noted as Gabriel shattered yet another beaker with his new electrical ability.

"Mohinder's going to be so mad at me," he quipped and pointed at another one. Zap! _Krssh! _"It's not as easy as you make it look," he commented.

"You'll get there, don't sweat it," she consoled him.

"I need to get there now," he told her. "I have to prove myself."

She turned to look at him. "To who?"

He turned away, embarrassed. "He's nobody. I'm not sure you'd understand," he lied.

She picked up on the subtext: daddy issues. She let it slide. "Okay. Let's go again," she said and started to turn to the shelf for more beakers when the door opened.

"Gabriel, I need you to do something," Daniel Linderman informed him. "Go watch Claire Bennet. Make sure she doesn't try anything..._foolish_ during her stay here. You think you can do that?"

"Yes, sir," he snapped like a good soldier or wounded puppy seeking his master's approval. "Of course I can, sir."

Elle swung her head to look between the two men. This confirmed her suspicions. "I'm going, too," she declared. If anything, she could at least try to comfort Claire better than Gabriel or the other crazies here could.

"What?" Gabriel asked, perplexed by her volunteering.

"You need help, and I was raised to be a Company girl," she reminded 'Linderman.'

"I thought you left all that behind you?" Gabriel asked.

"Yeah, well, it's all I know," she said, turning to face him. "Besides, babysitting a cheerleader won't exactly be the hardest thing in the world to do, will it?"

"You okay with this, dad?" he let slip. He caught the surprise in her eyes when he said this, and she was silently grateful her back was to Linderman at the moment.

"I think the two of you together," he paused to lick his lips in consideration, "it's a good pairing."

Elle turned to him as he said this, then turned back to Gabriel. "Let's go sit the cheerleader,"

Gabriel gave a smug smile and motioned toward the door. "After you."

* * *

"Why is it always her?" Noah groused as he followed Angela Petrelli down the hall. "Why my daughter?"

"You mean _my_ daughter?" Meredith corrected him as she walked beside him. Neither were happy to hear of the latest turn of events upon returning to Hartsdale.

"My granddaughter is very headstrong, Noah," she told him. "You should know that of all people." She dropped her voice slightly, as if talking to herself, "unfortunately, it runs in the family."

"We are going to go get her, right?" Meredith asked.

"I have a plan, but we all have to work together to stop them," she said, stopping before a locked door and swiping her pass card. The lock turned green and the trio entered the doorway into a hall.

"Okay, so where is everyone else?"

"Nathan is helping Peter test his abilities to make sure they are still working," she began explaining. "Det. Parkman will get Hiro Nakamura, and you two will help Maury Parkman retrieve the Catalyst."

"That doesn't sound so bad," she replied, slightly confused.

"Except for the fact Maury left it in the care of a very dangerous individual, with instructions that no one else was to approach the child," she explained.

"Not to mention the fact that the child in question is deathly afraid of the senior Parkman," Noah added.

"Then why don't you just send Matt to get his kid?"

"Because, in order to find Hiro, he must gain the trust of someone, for which he needs the speedster, Miss Millbrook."

"Uh-huh," Meredith sighed in frustration.

"Don't worry, you'll have a part to play when the time comes," Angela informed her. "Who else can keep your brother, Flint, under their thumb?"

"Flint's working with Pinehearst?" she exclaimed.

Angela stopped a gave a sly smile to the younger blonde. "We all have to make sacrifices."

Angela nodded to the cell in front of them, where the Haitian was visiting his recaptured brother, the self-styled "Baron Samedi", who had escaped to their native Haiti after the Level 5 breakout and tried to restart his drug and sex slave operation.

"I will make you pay for this, Rene!" he shouted at his brother from behind the thick plexiglass.

The Haitian merely nodded and turned to Angela.

"Was he any trouble?" she asked. He shook his head. "Good. We will need him for the task ahead." Rene gave a curt nod.

She turned and went to the neighboring cell, frowning at it's occupant. "Are you ready?"

"Whenever you are, Angie," Maury Parkman replied.

* * *

"You ready, Pete?"

Peter nodded and watched as his brother took off into the sky. He followed in pursuit.

"Best way to test your abilities is a simple game of tag," Nathan yelled back at him. "Catch me if you can!" he said and zoomed off.

Peter chuckled under his breath and increased his own speed, easily catching up to his brother. Right as he was about to tag him, Nathan veered off and looped back the way they had come, disappearing in a cloud bank.

Peter grinned and let off a volley of lightning, watching beneath the bank just in case he accidentally shocked Nathan too hard. He needn't have worried as Nathan came barreling out straight at him. Peter barely had time to duck as Nathan flew by into another bank.

Peter decided to try another tactic and burned off the cloud cover with a wide arc of fire, a trick he picked up from meeting Meredith, earlier. Nathan was nowhere to be found. Looking around in confusion, Peter was tagged by his brother as he flew up from underneath. Caught off guard, he lost some altitude and cursed under his breath, but regained himself and decided to play this game with a bit more stealth. He turned invisible and flew in pursuit of his brother.

Nathan happened to glance back just in time to see Peter fade from view. He stopped momentarily to take a second look and was nearly knocked over by something he couldn't see flying past him. He grinned.

* * *

Mohinder Suresh prepared the syringe of Claire's blood for his patient. He was breathing hard. The monitors were erratic at best. Mohinder knew if this didn't work, the man was dead. He plunged the needle into the carapace that had enveloped the man's chest, hoping the needle was strong enough to break through to the man's heart. He pressed the plunger and mentally crossed his fingers.

The monitors began beeping wildly. Mohinder glanced to them and it nearly cost him his head as the man-beast began flailing wildly, knocking the geneticist into the wall and the breath from his body.

As if on instinct, Mohinder's scales flared up, ready to launch themselves at his attacker, who now broke through the straps that held him down and rose from the bed. He let out a blood curdling scream of agony. Mohinder could only guess that the pain he had experienced was nothing as compared to what this man was going through, now. He hoped the man would not destroy the lab. There was so much more testing that needed to be done, now.

Suddenly, Mohinder heard an odd whistling. He looked up to see Adam Monroe and Daniel Linderman standing in the doorway. Linderman seemed to be the source of the odd sound. Mohinder felt himself getting drowsy. He glanced over to see his patient had stopped thrashing and was staring weakly at the two men. Mohinder felt his scales shifting. Then everything went black.

Adam stepped to the man-beast and kicked it. No response. He turned to Mohinder and saw that his scales were now forming a cocoon over the man's body.

"Everything changes today," Adam said as Mohinder's body slowly disappeared into a shell of it's own making.

* * *

"I still don't understand what Hiro Nakamura has to do with any of this," Daphne complained again as Matt searched his apartment.

"Angela made our orders very clear," Matt replied, distracted by the fact he was not sent to protect his own child, but sent on what he felt was a wild goose chase.

"The guy's a spaz," she declared.

"No, he's a time-traveler," Matt corrected her. "If Adam Monroe has us on the ropes, the man is a walking do-over," he said as he flipped through another box. "I know I have Hiro's number in his dad's homicide file," he muttered to himself. He glanced up to see Daphne still fidgeting. "Are you nervous about something?"

She sprang to her feet. "Daniel Linderman scares me," she said. _Or whoever he really is_, she added to herself.

"Ah, you don't have to be scared about him or Monroe," Matt told her. "A healer and an immortal?"

"Of course I do!" she exclaimed. "He can take away my abilities, and I betrayed them," she reminded him. "I betrayed you."

Matt looked at her for a second as he flipped through a file. "No, no you didn't," he replied.

"I'm a betrayer," she said, walking off. "And a liar, and a thief, and..."

"What? No," Matt countered.

"And I'm selfish," she continued as Matt gave chase. "You know, I don't even know why you even keep me around."

Matt caught up to her and grabbed her hands. "Because you're one of the good guys, now."

"So you trust me?"

"Yes!"

"Completely?"

Matt paused, trying to figure out where she was going with this. "Yes, I trust you completely. I know you, Daphne."

"Yeah, well, no," she countered. "You say that, but you don't know me. Not really."

"We had a life together," he reminded her.

"In a dream," she reminded him.

"It was a spirit walk," he corrected.

"_It wasn't real!" _she exclaimed. "Adam killed your father, he could kill us all, or worse! I-"

Matt cut her off. "I'm not gonna let that happen to you. I promise. Besides, we know now my dad is still alive." He pleaded with her, "Please, just help me find Hiro. Come on."

She sighed as he started to lead her back to his files. "How are gonna do that, exactly? The guy's a freaking teleporter."

Someone knocked at the door. The couple stopped and turned back as one. Matt listened at the door a moment before opening it up to reveal Ando Masahashi and Matt's African mentor, Usutu.

Ando wasted no time and began babbling. "Hey, I need your help. We have to find Hiro." He thrust out the comic Usutu had given him. "Look."

Matt glanced down to see the characters in the word balloons doing their usual dance for him. It would take a minute for him to understand their meaning, even if they weren't in French. What caught his eye was the panel featuring the four of them at his door. Was his nose really that big? "What's this about?"

"It says you have to find Hiro!" Ando insisted. "He's disappeared and you're the one who can help us find him!" Then he realized Daphne was standing there, too, eyeing him.

"Excuse me, Park-Man," Usutu said, pushing past the couple, handing Matt his walking staff. "It's been a long trip."

Matt watched in confusion as the shaman immediately headed for the bathroom. Daphne stared after him. "We're all gonna die."

* * *

"Hey, cheerleader, how's it going?" Elle ribbed Claire as she and Gabriel approached her cell.

"Elle?" she asked in confusion before seeing her companion. "Sylar?" she spit in contempt.

"She's a feisty one," Flint informed them. "Reminds me of my sister, Mere."

Claire did a quick double-take. Surely, he didn't mean _Meredith_, her _mother_?

"Hm," Gabriel acknowledged, noting Claire's reaction. "Your shift's over. Our turn to keep an eye on her."

"Let's go, Flint," Knox urged him. "I need to check with Suresh to see if I can get my power back. Later, Blondie."

Claire shot the two men a disgusted glare before looking back to her new guards. Elle was standing just a tad too close to Sylar for comfort. "Oh my gawd, don't tell me-?"

Gabriel wrapped an arm around Elle's waist. "Jealous?" he smiled.

Claire wanted to throw up.

* * *

Matt showed Usutu his turtle's new accommodations. Usutu corrected him it was a tortoise and looked over to Daphne.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Daphne accused Ando.

"Yeah, you'd like that," he retorted. "What's your game, nemesis?"

"I'm not a nemesis, anymore. I'm a good guy, now," she smugly informed him.

Matt decided to step in. "Guys, how are we supposed to find Hiro? You're his best friend, but you have no clue where he went? This is way beyond me."

"Hiro is our reset button," Daphne reminded him. "Our walking do-over, remember?"

"I know," Matt countered, "but he can time-travel, he can teleport, and...he's still very powerful." He sighed and looked over to Usutu for any insight.

Usutu sat watching the tortoise, bobbing his head along with the creature. He realized the other three were watching him. He turned and looked up at them.

"I can't," Daphne finally said, breaking the silence. "I can't do this, I'm sorry, I gotta get out of here."

"What?" Matt asked, following her to the door. "What are you talking about? Daphne?"

She finally stopped as she pulled the door open. "You paused."

"What?" Matt had no idea what she was talking about.

"When I asked you if you trusted me, you paused."

"No," Matt refuted. "No, I didn't."

"I'm a speedster," she reminded him. "Fractions of seconds feel like hours to me," she told him, "and you paused. You don't know me, and you don't know what I've been through."

Matt was totally lost. "What is that supposed to mean? Daphne, come on."

She hesitated. He found himself skimming her thoughts, looking for an answer. She felt him do it.

"Matt!"

"Lawrence, Kansas?"

"Stop reading my mind!"

"What's in Kansas? Come on," he goaded.

"Just back off."

It had been a comforting thought he had picked up. "Your home?" he guessed.

"Leave me alone!" she exclaimed and sped away.

"Daphne! Wait!" he called after her, but she was already gone.

"Let her go," Usutu said. "She has to do this."

Matt spun and glared at the shaman.

* * *

"So tell me, Claire, did Knox say how he lost his powers?" Gabriel inquired.

She huffed in her cell.

"Was it something he did, or someone who did it?"

Claire glared at him.

"After all, if they took away Knox's and Peter's powers, they could do the same thing to all of us," he quietly intoned, unaware there were two separate reasons for those events.

"He said-" she began, then stopped and rolled her eyes. "He said that he was taking Adam to see this old guy in a bed, 'Arthur,' who was really mad at Adam. The next thing he knew, this Arthur had his hand on Knox's and he felt weak, y'know? That was it."

"Arthur Petrelli?" Elle asked. "I thought he was dead?"

Gabriel and Claire both sat up at this. "Angela's husband?" he asked.

"My grandfather?" Claire echoed.

The trio exchanged looks. "You don't think-?" Elle began.

"That he's still alive?" Claire finished.

Gabriel looked up at the ceiling, as if searching for something. "Anything's possible. Excuse me, ladies, I have to use the restroom."

Claire and Elle shared a look and rolled their eyes in disbelief.

* * *

"It's me, everything's veering off plan," she informed the person on the other end of her call. "Peter's back to full power, Matt's looking for Nakamura, and the Cat-"

"We can't have that," he replied. "We'll stop Parkman by any means necessary."

"You're not going to hurt him?"

"I'm learning today that some things are out of my control," he told her.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's time for Angela's troops to see the world for what it really is."

"Look, I agreed to help you because you said we could save the world," she told him. "I-I need him."

"So do I," he informed her. "I need you to go to Philadelphia. I have one more recruit for you to pick up."

"I...I don't take orders from you, anymore."

"If you want to keep young Mr. Parkman safe, you will do exactly as I say, Miss Millbrook."

Daphne stared at her phone as he hung up. Tears welled in her eyes. She knew who he wanted her to grab.

Daniel Linderman slipped his phone in his pocket and turned back to the lab monitors. "What does this eclipse mean?" Linderman asked the other man. "How could it possibly affect us?"

Adam studied Suresh's monitors. "The moon controls the ocean's waves. The sun, our internal timing. But something else is happening to them," he motioned to the two prone forms in the lab. "They're changing."

"Can we control it?"

Adam locked eyes and raised a questioning eyebrow at his companion.

* * *

"Molly! We need Molly to help us find Hiro," Matt told his two companions, showing them the note he had found on his dresser. "And Daphne," he added quietly to himself.

"But if Suresh sent her away, how do we find her?" Ando asked, reading over the note Matt had stumbled across. He wasn't sure why Mohinder had left it, but only explained that Molly had been sent away "for her safety", which Matt knew meant Sylar had returned in his absence. It didn't say _where_ she was.

"I don't know, but we have to," Matt shot back. He sighed. "Oh god, I told her that I doubted her," he moaned. "I practically packed her bags for her."

"Molly?" Ando asked.

"Daphne," Matt groused, realizing his fascination with their future was now becoming an obsession. Then he realized that was the key. He turned to Usutu, who sat calmly by the tortoise. "Molly was there, right? In the future. So that means she'll come back. How do I find her now?"

"Look inside yourself for the answers you seek, Park-Man," he replied calmly.

It irritated Matt to no end how the African pronounced his name, but he didn't have time to let it get to him. He plopped down on the couch and rubbed his face with his hands. "Think, Matt, think!" he told himself. "How do you remember a dream?"

"Write it down?" Ando offered.

Matt looked up at him. "You're right!" He sprang to his feet and grabbed one of Mohinder's many notebooks and a pen. He sat at the kitchen table and flipped to an empty page. He exhaled and forced himself to remember the spirit walk. His eyes turned white.

Ando leaned over Matt's shoulder as he began to draw. He was confused until he looked into Matt's face and saw his eyes had glazed white, much like Hiro's had done when he had ingested Usutu's paste. He reached for his shoulder to shake the man awake.

"Do not touch him," Usutu warned. "He must not be woken or he may be lost."

Ando looked from Usutu back to Matt sketching. He had no choice but to wait this out.

Matt suddenly tore off a sheet and began a new sketch. Ando looked it over. Two flying stick figures and three walking stick figures were chasing a running one to a building.

* * *

Gabriel slipped into the darkened room. The ornate bed seemed out of place amongst all the modern hospital equipment, much less the question of why it was in this modern office building, secluded from everything else.

He approached the bed and saw an aged man lying there, seemingly asleep.

"_help me_," came a weak voice in his head.

"Hello?" Gabriel answered. "Who are you?"

"_please, I need your help_," the voice pleaded.

Gabriel could see a flutter of an eyelid. "Sir?"

"_please_," the voice said again.

Gabriel looked around and saw the IV bag was empty. He wondered how long this man had been left on his own, presumably to die from lack of care.

"_Livitz stopped coming_," the voice said again.

"Dr. Livitz?" Gabriel asked. "Sorry, that was my fault. I was trying to free my brother, Peter."

"_Nathan?" _replied the voice. "_No, you're not my son._"

"Arthur Petrelli, I presume?" Gabriel replied as he opened a cabinet and found a fresh IV bag.

"_who are you_?"

"My name is Gabriel Gray," he replied. "Although, many know me as Sylar. Your wife, Angela Petrelli, claims to be my mother," he explained.

The heart monitors began beeping erratically.

"I take it you've heard of me?"

"_Samson_?"

"Is my father," Gabriel informed him. "Of course, I really don't believe Angela, but she gave me a chance to redeem my past actions, so I'm playing along. For now."

"_she sent you here to kill me_?"

"She believes you are already dead."

"_No. She knows the truth, now_," he confessed. "_But that can still change. Depending on you, of course_."

"Of course," Gabriel smiled.

* * *

Matt woke with a jerk. He looked around, regaining his composure and his surroundings. Ando sat across from him at the table, looking at drawings. Usutu still sat in his chair, watching him. "Welcome back," he nodded.

"Are these true?" Ando asked, laying the pictures back on the table. "Is this what is going to happen?"

Matt was confused. "What? Let me see," he said as he gathered them up to look at what he had drawn. His face went white.

"Time to call in the cavalry?" Ando offered as he examined one picture that showed a bleeding girl being held by a large, bald man. He had no idea who either could be.

"I think it may be too late for that," Matt replied, hoping the girl wasn't who he thought it could be. "Come on, we gotta go. Now."

That one seemed more immediate, but the one he had drawn last seemed more personally imperative. A family of four.

* * *

"Whatchu think you're doing?" came the Texas drawl from behind them.

Gabriel spun to see Flint standing there grinning, blue flame flickering from his hand. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I got told to make sure you didn't cause no trouble, down here," the pyro told him.

"I'm not causing trouble," Gabriel claimed. "I just got lost trying to find the bathroom and found this man being kept from medical attention."

"Y'think there was a reason for that?" he asked, taunting the killer with his flame.

Gabriel dodged the fireball, which blinked out as it passed him. "I'm trying not to be a killer, anymore," he replied.

"I'm not," Flint grinned.

"I didn't say I still wouldn't hurt you," Gabriel replied.

"Whut?" he asked in confusion.

KLANG! The man dropped to the floor as the fire extinguisher struck him from behind.

"See? You're still alive," Gabriel taunted the unconscious man.

"_give me his hand, Gabriel_," Arthur implored him.

Gabriel turned and studied him for a moment. "Why?"

"_I need his strength_," he replied. "_I may die if I don't get it_."

Gabriel considered this for a moment. "So...what? You're like a vampire?"

"_No, I take other abilities_," he explained. "_Like you. Like Peter. Like your father_."

"Funny thing. I kill to take my abilities. Peter doesn't have to," he explained, approaching the bed once more. "How does my father do it?"

Arthur remained silent.

"Tell me."

"_by touch_," he answered. "_he has to touch you to steal your abilities. He prefers to kill, though, just like you_."

"And could someone like Peter or myself overload him? Too many abilities at once?"

"_I don't know_."

"What about you?"

"_Your father was the only other person I've met like us_," he replied. "_I never had the chance to find out. Peter didn't manifest until after I 'died_.'"

"I see," Gabriel replied, his mind working out the answer for itself.

"_They're all trying to make you into something, Gabriel_," he said. "_A boy scout, a monster. Who's it going to be, Gabriel? Who are you, really? A villain? A hero?"_

"Shut up," he replied and pointed a finger at the man. "I hate heroes."

"Gabriel?" came a female voice. "Are you okay?" Elle asked, stepping over the prone form of Flint.

"Where's Claire?"

"They took her for some more tests. Linderman told me to find you."

"Well, you found me," he replied with a grim nod. He noticed a small pool of blood under Flint's head. He knelt down to check on him. He now bore what appeared to be a long 'S' scratch near his temple. It almost looked like a... Gabriel chuckled to himself. He had seen that mark before.

* * *

Claire screamed for all she was worth. Anyone in earshot didn't care. Adam Monroe checked the collection jar on her right. "With any luck, your blood will have the same potency as mine, and will have a decent shelf life. God knows your grandparents took enough of it over the years of my incarceration."

"Why?" she cried. "Why me?"

"Because," he replied and turned his back on her.

Out in the hall, Eric Doyle paced like an expectant father. Knox watched him closely. "What's got your panties in a bunch, big man?"

Doyle stopped and stared at the gangbanger. "Do you not have the slightest bit of concern? Can you not hear her screaming in there?"

Knox shrugged. "Walk it off then, man. I don't care."

Doyle started to say something, but bit his lip and strode off. He had barely turned the corner when he saw Sylar bearing down on him, and he didn't look happy. The next thing he knew, he was being thrown against the wall.

"Where is she?" he growled, hand extended as if the fingers were physically around Doyle's thick neck.

"Down there," he gurgled and pointed. "I couldn't listen to her scream anymore."

Gabriel dropped the hefty man to the floor and marched toward the doors Knox was guarding. He did a double take on seeing Gray, but found himself thrown hard against the wall and fell to the floor, unconscious. Gabriel never broke his stride.

"Where is she?" he demanded upon entering the lab.

"Ah, Gabriel, how nice of you to join us," Adam enthused.

"Why are you torturing Claire like this?" he demanded, seeing her strapped to the table, blood feeds draining both arms and legs. He silently wondered how fast her body could keep up with the blood loss.

"Until we find that catalyst, Claire's blood is the only stabilizing agent to the Formula," he explained.

"Where's Mohinder?"

Adam pointed to the other room. Gabriel looked over and saw a large, misshapen hulk lying on a gurney. Some sort of cocoon lay on the floor behind it. "There still seems to be the matter of a few side effects, but we can work those out."

"Is he dead?"

"I should think not," the immortal replied. "Although, if he comes out with butterfly wings, you'd have to ask yourself if it was worth it," he chuckled.

Gabriel turned and glared at him. Adam didn't even flinch when he was thrown across the room. "I'm getting her out of here."

He proceeded to telekinetically rip the feeds from Claire's limbs and carried her out of the room. Doyle stood in the hall, waiting.

"Is she alright?" he asked, eyeing her limp form.

"She'll be fine in a few minutes," Gabriel replied. He looked back into the lab. "Here, take her. There's a room set up on the sixth floor. Take her there. Her grandfather is waiting."

Doyle took the limp form and did as he was told. As he turned the corner, he could hear Adam scream. He didn't look back.

* * *

"Can you drive?" Matt asked his Japanese companion.

"Yes," Ando replied. "When Hiro and I first came here, I drove us both across the country," he proudly boasted.

"Good." Matt tossed him the keys to Mohinder's cab. "I've got to concentrate to make a call."

"Where are we going?"

"Here," he replied and tossed Ando a map printout with directions and their destination marked. Matt climbed in the passenger seat as Usutu climbed in the back. Ando pulled out into traffic.

Matt made himself comfortable, closed his eyes and reached out to Peter. The feedback made him jump forward, almost hitting his head on the dash. "Let's try this again," he said to himself and concentrated on Nathan, this time.

"Where are ya, Pete?" Nathan muttered to himself as he hovered above the clouds in central New York state. He spied a disturbance as if something had flown through one of the clouds. He grinned and headed for it.

The next thing he knew, Matt Parkman was yelling in his head and he was losing altitude fast. "What the hell?"

Peter swooped up and caught his brother, making sure he was flying on his own before he released him. "What the hell was that? Matt?" he asked.

"You got it, too? Last time I felt something slam my head like that, was when I picked up Matt's telepathy," Peter told him.

"I'm pretty sure it was him, but no clue what he said," Nathan replied.

"Take a slow breath and concentrate on him, don't try to fight it," Peter advised his brother.

Nathan did as he was told, holding on to Peter just in case. "Philadelphia. He wants us to go to Philly."

"Why?"

"Not sure, but there's only one place there he knows I know about, his dad's apartment."

Peter gave his brother a confused look. "Why didn't mom send his dad then?"

"She may not have known," he replied. "Or she may know exactly what we'll find. Come on, I'll race ya." With that, Nathan left his brother behind.

Peter gave a lopsided grin and gave chase.

* * *

"Hello?" Doyle asked, causing Claire to stir in his arms. He looked into the room and saw an ornate bed. This had to be the place.

"_who are you?"_

"D-Doyle, Sylar asked me to bring Claire up here?" he answered. He took a step closer to the bed. Flint was lying alongside it, his hand reaching up from the floor.

"_bring her here_," the voice instructed.

Claire stirred again, coming around. She looked around and saw the older man hooked up to various apparatus in the bed. She looked up to see a nervous Doyle was holding her. "What's going on?" she murmured.

"Who are you?" Doyle asked.

"_I'm her grandfather_," came the reply. Suddenly, Claire was yanked from his arms and flew to the bed. The old man's hand clasped onto her arm.

Claire began struggling, still fighting off the stress of being drained of almost all her blood. She suddenly felt weaker.

"What are you doing to her?" Doyle demanded. He found he couldn't move to help her.

The man breathed in deeply as he removed the air hose imbedded in his neck. Doyle watched in astonishment as the hole sealed itself before his eyes.

"It feels good to breathe again," the man said. He sat up and pulled the sheets back and rose from the bed. He stretched his arms as if he hadn't felt them in ages. "A year is a long time to be laid up like that," he told Doyle.

Doyle's cheeks flushed. Arthur looked down to see what he thought the man was staring at. "Well, it's nice to see _everything_ works after all that," he chuckled.

"Huh?" Doyle asked. He had been looking at Claire, crumpled on the floor next to her uncle. His anger momentarily subsided by Arthur's confusion over something else.

Arthur stepped over the bodies and toward the frozen Doyle. "And what do you do?" he asked, reaching for the puppeteer.

"Don't touch him!" Elle shrieked as blue lightning shot past Doyle and hit Arthur in the chest, knocking him off balance.

Doyle could finally move again. "Run!" Elle screamed. He didn't need to be told twice.

He bolted from the room, expecting Elle to be right behind him. He looked back to see Arthur advancing on her, her lightning having no effect. Doyle stopped and raised his hands. Arthur froze mid-step.

"Grab Claire!" he shouted.

No sooner had he said that than the unconscious girl rose and began floating toward him. His eyes popped in astonishment.

"Don't worry, I've got her," Gabriel said as he came up behind Doyle. "Come on, Elle, we're getting out of here." The quartet made a hasty retreat from the Pinehearst building.

tbc_


	7. Chapter 11 Lighthouse

Heroes: Villains

Chapter 11: Lighthouse

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just playing with Tim Kring's toys. (because he don't treat them right!)

* * *

**Philadelphia**

"Welcome to the city of Brotherly Love, kids," Maury boasted as the trio drove into town.

"Yeah, I saw the movie," Noah Bennet replied from the front passenger seat.

"Philly Story or that one with the gay lawyers?" he asked, glancing out the backseat window.

"Both," he smiled across at Meredith, waiting for the telepath's next line.

"Gave whole new meaning to the nickname, didn't it?" he quipped.

"Told you," Noah winked at his blonde companion, who only rolled her eyes at the men's attempt at humor. "You trying to tell us something Mr. Parkman?" he teased.

"You going to tell me why my boy left his wife and shacked up with some pretty-boy foreigner?" he shot back.

"That's not for me to tell," he smiled. "That's between Matt and Mohinder."

Maury smiled. "Made you think, though, didn't I? Can't lie to a telepath, Noah." Noah thought of a retort in Japanese. Maury leaned forward and looked at Bennet. "Back at'cha, four eyes. It also helps that Kaito taught us Japanese before we decided to have our agents be multi-lingual as well," he chuckled.

"Where are we going again?" Meredith spoke up before the two could continue.

"Hang a left up here," he motioned. He then directed them to a more rundown part of the city. Noting he was less likely to be disturbed in his endeavours in this particular neighborhood. Noah gave Meredith a curious look at this.

Maury finally pointed out his apartment building and the three got out. Parkman stretched his back, complaining about the cramped confines on his aged bones.

"How many other people live here, anyway?" Bennet asked, scanning the building.

"I don't know," Maury shrugged nonchalantly. "People come and go."

Bennet opened the front door. "Come on, let's get this over with." Meredith motioned to Maury to follow, which he did reluctantly as she brought up the rear.

Maury silently trudged to his door. Both agents noticed a sense of dread growing from him as they arrived. "Get ready for anything," he said with a heavy sigh as he fumbled with a key.

Bennet and Meredith drew their guns. She knew better than to use her ability right off the bat, losing an element of surprise against the alleged guardian of their true quarry.

Maury stepped into the apartment and looked around. No one was in the main room. "Pine? It's Parkman. Get yer ass out here," he called out.

There came a shuffling from the back bedroom. The agents held their weapons at the ready as the door slowly opened.

* * *

"Where-where am I?" Claire asked, finally coming around.

"In a motel, deciding where we go next," came the reply.

"Elle?"

"Hey, Cheerleader," she smiled then turned away toward the bathroom door. "She's awake!" she called out.

There came a flush and the sound of running water. A minute later, Eric Doyle exited. "I'd wait a few before...y'know," he shrugged. "Morning, Barbie. How are you feeling?"

Claire looked at him in confusion for a moment. "Fine, I guess," she replied. "Still kinda groggy," she shrugged. "Weak, like I'm sick or something?"

"I thought you couldn't get sick?" Elle asked.

"I'm not sure what all Adam did to me?" she replied, holding her head.

"He drained your blood," Eric replied. "Surely, you've regenerated all that you lost by now?"

"Probably," she answered. "I could swear someone else did something to me, too?"

Elle and Doyle shared a nervous look.

"What?"

"Claire, there was someone else," Elle replied.

"An old man in a bed," Doyle added.

"What? Who?"

"Arthur," Elle said, biting her lip. "Arthur Petrelli. Nathan's dad."

Claire stared at the other blonde blankly for a minute. "But Arthur's dead. Isn't he?"

A quiet silence spread across the room. No one would look at the others. The door opened.

"I've got lunch," Gabriel announced before taking in the occupants of the room. "Claire, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Is it true? Did Arthur-?"

He set the food down and sat by her on the bed. "I'm sorry, Claire."

She burst into tears and fell into his arms. He instinctively comforted her. Neither noticed the dirty glare Elle gave them, but Eric Doyle did.

* * *

"Mr. Pine's not here," came the sleepy voice of the girl who exited the bedroom.

"Molly?" Bennet said in surprise, dropping his gun even as she jumped at the sight of the two agents. "Are you okay?"

"Mr. Bennet?" she asked in surprise as she recognized the man standing before her. Then she made a connection. "Did you bring Matt and Mohinder with you?" she asked expectantly.

Noah knelt down and reached out to her. "No, sweetie, but we're going to take you to them," he said warmly, reverting back to the fatherly tone he had used when Claire and Lyle had been little.

She beamed for a moment, then fear crossed her face. "You can't!" she exclaimed. "He'll get mad! He'll hurt you! He'll hurt the others!"

"He who, Molly?" Meredith asked.

"What others?" Noah wanted to know, turning to Maury.

"Who are you talking to?" Molly asked, looking in the same direction as the man with the horn rimmed glasses, but seeing no one.

Bennet glanced back to her then looked directly at Maury. "She can't see you?"

Maury gave a nervous shrug. "She doesn't like me."

"_You_ are scared of a little girl?" he chuckled.

"Let's get out of here," Maury said sternly, changing the subject.

Meredith reached out to the girl. "Come on, honey. We'll take you someplace safe."

"He won't like that," she whispered.

Bennet approached Maury. "You didn't answer my question. What 'others'?"

"Who the hell are you people?" came a loud, gruff voice from the doorway. The foursome all turned and faced a large, balding, beefy man who held a bag of groceries in one hand, the other made a fist and turned to metal.

"Parkman?" Bennet muttered under his breath as the newcomer dropped his bag. "Can you control him?"

"I used to," he replied. "I'm having trouble breaking into his head, right now."

Danny Pine had already figured the two men were the ones to take out first and began charging them.

Meredith dragged Molly toward the open door behind him as Bennet pushed Parkman out of the man's way and fired his gun. The bullet ricocheted off the metal arm and Noah Bennet found himself suddenly being held in the air by his collar. He saw Pine draw back his metal fist, ready to plant it in his skull. "Oh, Sh-"

All he heard was a crash.

* * *

Peter Petrelli caught up with his brother as the two descended on the city of Philadelphia. "Where, exactly, are we headed?"

Nathan pointed toward a run down section of the city. "That way. Follow me."

Peter trailed his brother to a dilapidated building with a familiar style of car parked in front. "Someone from the Company is already here?" he asked as they landed.

"What are you talking about?" the Senator asked his brother.

"This is the same model of car the Company uses," Peter explained. "Either whoever we're after is a double agent or mom already sent someone after them."

Nathan considered this a moment, then glanced around for traffic and onlookers. "Feel like a little recon?" he asked. "Better go invisible, just in case." Peter smiled and nodded, grabbing his brother's shoulder, turning them both invisible. "Come on," he said and lifted off to find a certain window.

Hovering outside Maury's apartment window, they saw Danny Pine enter and charge at Noah and Maury. "I guess we know who the car belongs to," Nathan quipped, but Peter had already jumped into action, flying through the window and tackling the metal armed bruiser. Nathan sighed and jumped in the window after his brother.

"Get off me!" Pine protested, struggling against Peter's strength and telekinesis pinning him to the floor.

"Noah, you okay?" Peter asked over his shoulder.

"Thanks to you, Peter," he gasped. "Hold him down a minute until our friend, Mr. Parkman, can calm him down, would you?"

"You mean like this?" Peter asked as the metallic armed man suddenly went limp. "I've still got Matt's telepathy, too," he reminded his niece's adoptive father as he got to his feet.

"You know Matt?" a small voice asked.

Peter glanced over to see a young girl poking out from behind Meredith. "Yeah," he smiled. "Who are you?"

"My name's Molly," she replied. "I used to live with Matt and Mohinder until Mohinder sent me here to hide from the boogeyman, I mean, Sylar," she explained.

Nathan, Noah, Peter, and Meredith exchanged concerned glances. Noah turned to face Maury, again, who seemed embarrassed about the situation.

Peter knelt down by Molly. "Hi, Molly. My name's Peter," he said softly. "Would you like to go see Matt, now?"

"Yes, please," she replied, excitedly, then hesitated. "But what about the others? Don't they get to go home, too?"

"Others?" the Petrelli brothers said in unison.

"You were saying, Maury?" Bennet asked.

Maury sighed. "Alright, but don't blame me. This wasn't my idea," he said and trudged out of the apartment into the hallway.

Noah started to follow, then stopped. "Meredith, stay with Molly. Peter, keep an eye on Mr. Pine, would you?"

"He should be out for a while, but sure," Peter agreed.

Bennet motioned Nathan to follow and they found Maury at the door to the next apartment, number 8. "It's Maury, open up," he said, knocking at the door. A few moments later, a teenaged Native American girl about Claire's age opened the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"We're here for the kids, Sparrow," Maury replied. She gave him a confused look before he pushed his way past her into the apartment.

Noah noticed she appeared dazed, and vaguely familiar. "Do I know you?" he asked.

"Sparrow Redhouse," she replied, shaking her head as if waking up. "I was hired by this babysitting service to watch these kids while their parents are out of town." She didn't seem sure of what she was saying, almost as if it had been a forced memory.

Noah stepped into the apartment. "Maury? What's going on here?" he asked, then saw that the elder mentalist had sat down at the kitchen table to enjoy a cup of coffee with an older black lady.

"Why hello, Mr. Bennet," Nana Dawson said cheerily. "Won't you sit down for a moment so we can talk?"

"What's going on here?" Bennet asked.

"More important, how many others are being kept here?" Nathan inquired as he stepped into the room.

Nana shot Maury a dirty look. He sighed. "Go look next door, Petrelli."

Nathan and Noah shared a questioning look as Molly entered the tiny kitchenette and hugged Nana warmly. "The other kids are watching TV in the other room, honey. Why don't you join them?" she suggested.

"But they said they were going to take me home," Molly explained, grabbing an iced lemon cookie from the plate on the table.

Nana eyed the Company men. "I'm sure they will," she consoled her, "but we have a few matters to discuss, first. Go on now, Molly."

* * *

"Where are we, anyway?" Ando asked as he drove, looking for the next turn the printed map instructions stated he was to take.

"Fort Lee, New Jersey," Matt answered, distracted.

Ando glanced over to the other man, who was trying to concentrate on the blank pad in his lap. A glance in the rearview mirror showed the African shaman, Usutu, was enjoying the scenery. Ando assumed the man probably didn't get away from his desert home much and wasn't used to the forests they were now driving through. If he had been asked, Ando was rather enjoying them, too, as a change of pace from the congested city life he was used to back in Tokyo.

"Here!" Matt suddenly shouted. "Turn here!"

Ando did as he was told, realizing his daydreaming almost made them miss the last turn to their destination. He turned onto the street and saw a few scattered office buildings along the wooded drive, but not the one bearing the double helix sign Matt had drawn and asked him to watch for. When the street curved around a copse of trees, they saw the last building was set farther down from the others for privacy. It also had a small art statue in front in the shape of a double helix.

Of course, they also had to get past the guard gate, first.

"Keep driving," Matt said as Ando approached the guard house. Before he could answer, he saw the guard had already started raising the crossbar.

A minute later, the trio exited the car and faced the building entrance. "We're just going to walk in, no back up?" Ando asked.

"Follow my lead," Matt said as he strode toward the front doors.

Ando glanced at Usutu, who merely smiled and motioned for him to go first. Ando gulped and followed the crazy _gaijin_ into the office building. Two men were waiting for them.

* * *

Nathan Petrelli knocked on apartment seven, unsure what to expect. The person who opened the door was the last person he would have guessed. "Heidi?"

"Nathan?" she replied, just as confused.

"Nathan, what's wrong?" Meredith asked, coming to join him as Molly had joined the kids Nana protected in the other apartment. Then she saw who he was staring at. "Heidi?"

"Meredith," she replied coldly. She glared at Nathan. "You're not seeing them, Nathan."

"Seeing who?" he asked, totally perplexed.

"The boys," she replied. "You're not seeing the boys. I don't know how you found us, but-"

"We had no idea you were here, Heidi," he explained. "I swear to god."

She eyed him as Meredith spoke up. "It's the truth, Heidi," she explained. "We were here for one little girl, and now we find this is some sort of relocation point or halfway house for-"

"Don't you even start," Heidi cut her off. She turned to her ex-husband. "We were warned by your mother to go underground, Nathan. She said the people who tried to kill you might come after us, next," she fumed. "I couldn't take the chance," she said, voice breaking. "Not after-I couldn't lose my boys, too," she cried.

Nathan stared at her, unsure if she was telling the truth or if she had been lied to, duped. He wanted to hug her, comfort her, somehow. She hit him.

"They said you were _dead_!" she accused him. "Then you somehow _come back _after the doctors had given up? And you never even called your own sons? How could you, Nathan?" she cried. "How could you abandon your _family_ like that?"

"I-I'm sorry, Heidi," he said and hugged her as she continued to flail at him. "I'm sorry."

Meredith started to say something, but Peter tapped her on the shoulder and motioned her away. She followed him back to apartment eight, where Maury was elaborating the situation to Bennet.

"Everyone had their own agenda, Noah, you know that," he explained. "Sure, Arthur pushed for the explosion in New York, but Angie and Danny thought up a way they could control it, contain the damage." He glanced up to see Peter and Meredith enter. "Turns out Petey, here, was the wild card. Saved the city he was supposed to destroy."

Peter smiled. "Thanks, but that was more Claire convincing Nathan to have a change of heart," he explained. "He's the one who flew me away so I didn't kill anyone."

"Still, you were the one who went down to Odessa to save her," he countered. "You saved your own ass, really."

"So what does this building have to do with all of that?" Bennet interjected.

"Yeah, why are Heidi and the boys, here, too?" Peter inquired.

"They aren't the only ones," Maury said. "Like I said, everyone had their own agendas. Danny basically laid the groundwork for that computer kid to rig the election for Nathan, so Arthur thought he might be useful to keep around," he explained.

"That would be my great nephew, Micah," Nana informed the others. "I took him in after my poor DL and later, Niki, died," she said, choking back a tear.

"Adam thought her grandkids might be useful, too," Maury added. He glanced at Peter. "But Nathan's kids? That was all Arthur's doing. Nathan was nothing but a tool to him," he explained. "Sure, you got abilities like your old man, but Nathan had to be _given_ abilities. Then we found out about his daughter, so Arthur naturally decided his grandsons would be useful to him in that regard, as well."

"I seem to be sensing a trend, here?" Noah inquired.

Maury gave a heavy sigh. "All of us were simply tools for Adam and Arthur," he informed them. "The younger we fall under their sway, the more likely we are to be indoctrinated into their way of thinking."

"Like all good dictatorships," Meredith remarked. Noah smirked in agreement.

"Try growing up under that," Peter remarked. "It doesn't always take."

"Not for you, Pete," Maury told him. "Like I said, Nathan was Arthur's tool. You got lucky. Being second born meant a lot of pressure was off of you until it was too late." He looked him in the eye. "Of course, your mother knew about you. She always did." He winked.

Peter blushed, unsure from embarrassment or something else.

Meredith spoke up. "So how did this girl, Molly, wind up with the Catalyst?"

Nana gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about? Molly doesn't have the Catalyst."

All eyes turned on Maury. "What? I never said it was Molly, did I?"

Noah Bennet's face drained of color. He knew who Maury was talking about. "no," he whispered.

* * *

"Ah, young Mr. Parkman, how good of you to join us at last," Adam Monroe greeted the trio as they entered Pinehearst.

"You the bastard that killed my father?" Matt asked.

Adam studied him a moment, then replied. "Yes, I'm afraid I am. What of it?"

Matt pulled out his gun and shot the immortal in the chest. "That makes us even," he said coolly.

Ando and Linderman looked on in confusion as Adam dropped to the ground. Linderman's hand lit up with blue electricity and he raised it at Matt.

"Stop!" Adam shouted as he slowly got up. "Don't harm him," he warned as he sat on his haunches and looked down at his chest. There was no wound. He looked at Matt to see he never had a gun. "Like father, like son, eh?" he chuckled, impressed.

"Something like that," Matt replied smugly.

"And what of your friends?" Adam asked as he got to his feet.

"He has a talent," Linderman said, eyeing Usutu. "The other one is useless."

Adam snapped his fingers and a dozen guards appeared. "Take the Japanese one to the testing lab. You two come with us," he instructed.

"What?" Ando gasped.

"Relax, we know what we are doing," Usutu confided as three guards escorted him one way, while several others surrounded Matt and Usutu as they followed Monroe and Linderman.

* * *

"You can't, Claire," Gabriel protested.

"I'm coming with you," she insisted again. "I need to warn everyone that-"

"What? That Arthur Petrelli is still alive?" he asked. "Your grandmother already knows and has made plans for that eventuality."

"I'm not sitting on the sidelines," she protested. "I can help."

"How?" Doyle asked. "You're ability is gone. The only time you've fired a gun is when I made you. Even then, there was no bullet in the chamber," he reminded her. Gabriel shot the fat man a dangerous look.

Elle noticed and it angered her even more. She and Gabriel had made a connection, how dare he suddenly turn his attentions to this-this _cheerleader_ who didn't even have an ability, now?

"He's right, Claire," she announced. "You can't heal and you're no good in a fight. Right now, you're a liability."

Claire shot the other blonde a disgusted look. "I can make a difference. I'm going to-"

"You're going to PrimaTech, is where you're going," Gabriel announced. "I already called Angela and told her where to pick you up. She's sending agents right now," he informed her. "The rest of us are headed back to Pinehearst to try and stop Adam before he causes more trouble."

"But-" she protested before her mouth snapped shut.

"Sorry, Barbie, it's been decided," Doyle apologized, pinching his fingers together in her direction.

* * *

"How did you get the Catalyst into the child?" Bennet demanded as he stormed down the hallway.

"I'm not sure," Maury replied. "That was Kaito's doing, and he, as you well know, is not in a position to answer us."

Noah glared at the man as they arrived at apartment number ten. Maury knocked. "Janice? Jan, it's Maury. Can we come in?"

The door unlocked and opened, revealing a very tired ex-Mrs. Parkman. "Maury? What's going on?" She eyed Bennet warily.

"I'm sorry, honey, but the building has been compromised. We need to get everyone out of here," Maury explained.

"Mrs. Parkman? Where's the child?" Noah inquired.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"A friend of your husband's," he replied. "People are coming for you and the child, we need to get you out of here immediately."

"I just got him to sleep," she complained, letting her ex-father-in-law and his companion in. "Where are you taking us, anyway? I thought you said we'd be safe, here."

"PrimaTech," Noah answered. "That's the safest place for you right-"

The baby started crying from the other room. Janice groaned in defeat.

"Matt said this was your first?" Noah asked, stifling a chuckle. She nodded. "Don't worry, they're easy to handle now. It's when they become teenagers that you really need to start worrying," he said in an amused voice. He glanced to the other man. "Right, Maury?"

Maury Parkman shrugged. "I wouldn't know," he muttered, looking embarrassed. Janice gave him an annoyed look.

The baby began wailing louder. Noah and Janice locked eyes for a moment. "He's not usually this loud," she said as they both recognized the fear in his cry. The trio ran for the bedroom, throwing open the door.

Daphne stood by the open window, diaper bag in one hand, a squirming bundle in the other. She looked up in surprise at the intruders. "I'm sorry," she said and bolted out the window.

"_Stop!" _Maury cried out, but it was too late.

Janice stared at the window in horror. She didn't even realize she was screaming until Maury hugged her and suggested she sleep. She went limp in his arms.

He laid her down on the bed and turned to Bennet. "We're going to find that fleet-footed bitch and get my grandson back," he fumed.

Noah was already pulling out his cell phone. "Meredith? Could you please bring Molly and Peter down here to number ten? And bring a map."

* * *

"I'd like your help with something, Mr. Parkman," Adam said as he lead them to a lab. He pointed to an observation room where a large object lay in the far corner.

Matt strained to understand what he was looking at. It looked vaguely familiar, somehow, but he couldn't place it. Then it shifted -no, _pulsated-_ as if alive. Matt jerked his head back from the window.

"It's a cocoon," Adam explained.

"What-what's inside it?" Matt inquired.

Adam smiled. "A friend of yours. We were hoping you could wake him, or at least tell us what's going on inside there?"

Matt had no idea what he was talking about. Then he remembered one of his drawings. A sketch of a man covered in slime. He wore a ring on his thumb. "Mohinder?"

"You've made contact?" Adam asked, tapping his temple.

"No, I just-" he paused, knowing he shouldn't share this latest twist in his abilities with these people. "Is it safe to go in there?"

"He's been like that for almost a day with no change," Adam informed him. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind a visitor."

Matt glared at the two men who may have caused this change in his friend. With a quick glance and nod from Usutu, he entered the room and approached his one-time roommate.

Kneeling before the cocoon, he cautiously placed a hand on the slimy casing. "Mohinder?" he probed. "Mohinder, can you hear me? It's Matt. I'm here to help you."

He waited a minute, then stepped away, shaking his head. "I can't pick anything up in there. Sorry," he informed them.

Adam entered the room. "Ah well, at least you tried, right?"

Matt stepped to the sink and washed the slime off his hand. He had picked up something, vague memories of what had happened here. "I'm sure that's not the only reason you wanted me, is it?"

Adam smiled. "I have something in my office I'd like you to see." He held his arm out for Matt to exit, which he did so with a last look back at his friend.

"Are you coming?" Linderman asked Usutu as they were leaving.

The African stood where he was for a moment, watching the cocoon. Without a word, he entered and knelt down by the object and laid his walking stick down, as if in a ceremony. After a moment, he rose and followed his pupil and the immortal out, with Linderman giving him an odd look as he did.

Once in Adam's office, Matt was surprised to see someone waiting for him. "Daphne?" he asked.

She turned away from the window and faced him. "Hi, Matt," she said. He could see she had been crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he went to her. That's when he noticed the diaper bag on the couch. He stopped short of her.

"I'm sorry, Matt."

"Daph?" He held her by the shoulders.

"Please, forgive me," she begged. "I'm so sorry."

"What are you talking ab-" she projected what she had done into his mind. "-out?" He stared at her a moment. "Daphne, what? No, you didn't?"

"I'm sorry, Matt," she pleaded.

He stepped back from her and turned to face the two men before him. Adam was smiling.

Matt Parkman had never been so angry in his life. His voice was calm and tempered, but it still scared Daphne Millbrook and gave pause to the older looking man posing as Daniel Linderman. "Where is he?" he demanded.

Adam made a show of casually checking his watch. "I'm afraid he's taking a bath."

Matt scanned his mind and saw an image of a baby being immersed in a red liquid.

"Where is my son?" Matt asked again, probing deeper for a location.

Adam gave up nothing. He had been around enough telepaths that he had developed some psychic defenses of his own.

Daniel Linderman made to approach Matt, but Matt stuck his arm out as if ordering traffic to stop and Linderman crumpled to the floor, dissolving into another man, leaner with graying brown hair and a beard. Matt looked back to Monroe.

"Where's my son, you bastard?" Matt asked again, losing his cool.

"You're too late," Adam replied, coolly. "He's already dead."

"_NO!" _Matt charged the immortal, strangling him as he tackled him to the floor. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you dead!" he screamed.

Adam chuckled as he tried to pry Matt's strong hands from his windpipe.

"Matt!" Daphne shouted and started toward him.

Usutu stopped her. "No, he must do this."

Daphne stared at the African in disbelief. "Then I know what I can do," she said defiantly and ran off.

* * *

"What's going on?" Meredith asked, Peter and two young children in tow.

"Who is this?" Bennet asked, pointing to the mocha-skinned boy with the laptop.

"Micah Sanders, sir," he introduced himself. "You said to bring a map, but we didn't have one, just my laptop."

"Sanders, huh?" Noah replied, then motioned the kids to the table. "Molly, I need you to locate someone for me, please."

"Matt?" she asked.

Noah glanced to his side and smiled. "Yes and no. I actually need you to find Matt's _son_ for me."

"Matt has a son?" she asked. Matt's former life was a topic he had never mentioned when Molly was around. He focused on his future by taking care of her when they lived with Mohinder. "I need a picture to focus on."

He glanced to his side again. "Maury, do you have any pictures of the boy?"

"Who are you talking to?" she asked him again.

Bennet sighed. "You might as well show her."

A moment later, Molly screamed as Maury Parkman appeared in the kitchenette of the apartment. "The Nightmare Man! _NO!" _She cowered behind Meredith.

"See? This is why I didn't let her see me, Bennet," he chided the man in the horn rimmed glasses. He turned to Molly. "I'm sorry, honey, but I'm trying to _help_ Matt, here! Honest."

"We won't let him hurt you, Molly," Meredith consoled her.

"I'll protect you, Molly," Peter added.

Maury looked at Peter a moment. "If this is too much for her, maybe you could do this?" he asked the empath. "You can read my mind to see my grandson, then use their abilities to find him?"

Peter nodded and turned to Molly. "Is that okay with you?" he asked. She sheepishly nodded. "Micah?" he asked the boy, who nodded in return. "Alright then. Meredith, would you please see the kids back to the other apartment, and we'll bring the laptop back to you when we're done, okay, Micah?"

"Sure, Mr. Petrelli," he replied, and helped usher Molly out of the room, giving Maury a scornful look for scaring his friend.

"Call me Peter," he said as he sat down to the laptop. He glanced up at Maury, then laid his hand on the laptop and pulled up the map site. Images flashed by as he narrowed the search to New Jersey. "Fort Lee," he said. He looked at Noah. "Pinehearst," they said in unison.

* * *

Usutu approached Matt and grabbed him by the shoulder. Matt tried to shrug him off, but Usutu's grip only tightened. "You can do no more here, Park-Man," he said.

Matt was now punching Adam in the face, his face twisted in rage. "He killed my son!"

The door flew open. Matt paused to catch his breath as he looked up at the newcomer, ready to shut him down as he had shut down the other man. This man looked familiar.

"I see you've met Adam," Arthur Petrelli said. "You're not the only one who has wanted to do that to him. I'll wait my turn," he said idly and headed to the office bar to pour himself a drink. "Do you want anything, Mr. Parkman? Or your friend?" he motioned to Usutu, who shook his head.

"Do I know you?" Matt asked, landing another right hook into Adam's battered face before he got up.

"Arthur Petrelli," he answered. "We met earlier, in Angela's mind," he explained.

"She thought you were the one behind this," Matt said.

Arthur handed him a napkin filled with ice cubes. "For your hand," he said. Matt took it and held the icepack across his bruised knuckles. "That was my original plan, but your father decided to betray me. I don't suppose you have the same agenda in mind?"

"Adam killed my father," Matt informed him. "And my son."

Arthur took a swallow of scotch. "My condolences for your son," he replied. "I'm sure you can agree that your father was a bit of a bastard, though. He got what he deserved."

"And now here you are, ready to take over whatever plot Adam and this other guy had to take over the world?" Matt accused.

"Oh, Adam didn't want to rule the world, Mr. Parkman," he said casually, leaning against the bar. "He wanted to _destroy_ it." He motioned behind Matt. "By the way, he's coming back around."

Matt stepped back so he could keep Arthur in his sights as he turned to look at Adam, who was stirring.

"Shouldn't you do something?" Matt asked.

"Are you done with your revenge?"

Matt stared at Adam for a moment. "He betrayed you, too."

"Yes, he did."

* * *

Daphne sped into the lab, following the location Matt had mentally extracted from Adam and given to her. She quickly dispatched the handful of techs before she stopped and saw the child she had brought suspended naked in a vat of red liquid. He was squirming and crying in the harness he was held in, splashing the liquid in his face, causing him further aggravation.

She started toward him when she heard a familiar voice call out, "Daphne? Over here!"

She turned and saw Ando strapped to a table, a similar red IV drip in one arm. "What are _you_ doing here?" she asked.

"I do not know," he replied. "I came here with Matt Parkman and Usutu, but the guards brought me here, instead."

She looked at the IV. "What is in this?"

"They injected whatever liquid the baby is in into the IV," he told her. "I'm not sure why."

She glanced back to the infant. "First things first," she said and pulled the drip out of his arm, then went to the tank and pulled the baby out, wrapping it in a blanket that was laying nearby. "Damn liar, telling Matt he drowned you," she muttered as she shushed him, wiping his face clean. "I'm sorry, baby," she cooed. "I'm so, so sorry they did this to you."

"Daphne?" Ando called to her.

She turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Who is that?"

Her initial instinct was to the baby, but then she saw he was looking past her. She turned to see what he was looking at. A shambling monster of a man stood in the doorway. Daphne fought a scream and backed up to the table Ando was strapped to.

"Daphne, now would be a good time to free me," he said as calmly as he could.

TBC_


	8. Chapter 12 Convergence

Heroes: Villains

Chapter 12: Convergence

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just playing with Tim Kring's toys. (because he don't treat them right!)

A/N: I was stuck on this story for the longest time, feeling I wrote myself into too deep a corner (much like the original, spurring the reason for this exercise). After someone gave me a positive review for previous chapters, I finally made myself wrap this up. I still don't like it, but hey, when you wake up Thanksgiving weekend with this plot going through your head, you gotta get it out, somehow, right? If you like it, great. If not, blame it on my cousin's fiance forgetting to take the giblets bag out of the turkey...or combined with the "anxiety attack" and shot of Adavan I had earlier in the week. :/

* * *

"Oh, Adam didn't want to rule the world, Mr. Parkman," he said casually, leaning against the bar. "He wanted to _destroy_ it." He motioned behind Matt. "By the way, he's coming back around."

Matt stepped back so he could keep Arthur in his sights as he turned to look at Adam, who was stirring.

"Shouldn't you do something?" Matt asked.

"Are you done with your revenge?"

Matt stared at Adam for a moment. "He betrayed you, too."

"Yes, he did." Arthur threw the remains of his drink on the immortal. Matt took a step back, unsure what to expect next. Arthur pointed at Adam and a streak of blue flame shot across the room, igniting Adam on fire.

Adam began screaming in pain. Matt was still too near him and grabbed his head in pain at the psychic feedback.

Despite the heat of the burning man, the room suddenly went cold. Matt could see his breath as his head pounded. He forced himself to look at Adam again and saw he was now covered in ice, flames frozen in mid-lick.

The stench of burnt bacon hung in the air. Matt wanted to retch.

"Careful, you'll set off the sprinklers," came a familiar voice.

"N-Niki?" Matt asked, in confusion.

"Uch, please," Tracy Strauss replied, rolling her eyes. "Is there anyone who didn't know her?"

"Parkman?" came a familiar voice.

Matt looked behind her and saw Knox and a bald man he didn't recognize standing in the doorway behind this familiar looking mystery woman.

* * *

"Daphne?" Ando called to her.

She turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Who is that?"

Her initial instinct was to the baby, but then she saw he was looking past her. She turned to see what he was looking at. A shambling monster of a man stood in the doorway. Daphne fought a scream and backed up to the table Ando was strapped to.

"Daphne, now would be a good time to free me," he said as calmly as he could.

She tried to undo the straps binding Ando down, but it was nearly impossible while holding the baby. "Don't move," she said, placing the infant in the gap between his legs before quickly freeing him as the creature shambled toward them.

"Daphne?" he inquired as she took the child back, while still watching the man-monster. "How do we get out of here?" he asked, noticing the beast blocked the only true exit out of the room.

Daphne spied the other door and ran for it, entering the lab which held Mohinder's cocoon. Ando stumbled off the table he had been tied down on and followed. It was only then that they realized they were now trapped.

They turned and saw the creature was now blocking their only means of escape and instinctively backed away from it into the cocoon.

"Daphne, I think we're in trouble," Ando realized, as he started to feel a tingling in his hands. He shrugged it off as part of the fear, possibly a reaction to whatever he was injected with intravenously.

The creature took another step closer.

"I've got to save the baby!" Daphne declared.

"We've got to save ourselves, first!" he replied as the tingling increased. Had he been looking at his hands instead of holding them behind him against the cocoon in reflex to being cornered, he would have seen the red sparks flowing from them into the shell.

Matthew began crying in fear. In response, the cocoon split open with a large crack, spilling it's contents into the room.

* * *

"Your grandmother's not going to like this," Gabriel said again as the quartet returned to Pinehearst.

"Yeah, well, my grandmother ain't exactly Betty Crocker, is she?" Claire retorted.

Doyle suddenly hit the brakes, much to his passengers' consternation. He pointed out the window. "Um, is that her?" he asked.

"Yeah," Claire grumbled, rolling her eyes. "That's her."

Angela Petrelli and The Haitian stood alongside a nondescript van in the parking lot of the last office building before Pinehearst. Doyle pulled up alongside them.

"What do you think you are doing?" Angela asked them as they got out.

"We're headed back to Pinehearst," Gabriel began, "to try and stop Adam Monroe and-"

"You may be, but she is doing nothing of the sort," Angela informed them, looking directly at Claire.

"I can help," she insisted.

"You will do nothing of the sort," she replied sternly. "Your fathers and uncle are headed this way. You will stay here and wait for them with me."

"What about us?" Elle asked.

"You three can go ahead if you wish," she replied. "Take Rene, with you. He can be of some assistance."

The Haitian motioned to the van. "What about-?"

"Claire and I can handle things here for a few minutes," she told her assistant. "You will be more useful to these three and Mr. Parkman."

They shared a look of understanding, he gave a slight nod and joined Gabriel and Elle in their car. Doyle hung back a moment.

"It's really for the best," he told Claire. She fumed and gave her grandmother a dirty look. Doyle shrugged and got in the car.

No sooner had they left than Claire turned on her grandmother. "What's in the van?"

"Nothing to concern yourself about, my dear," she replied nonchalantly as she scanned the sky.

Claire ignored her and pulled open the back door.

* * *

Nathan, Peter, Noah and Meredith conferred amongst themselves in Maury's Philadelphia apartment. "So, what do we do with everyone here?" Peter asked.

"I don't know how safe they'll be here, now that people know what's going on," Bennet replied. "Personally, I'd like to get the kids out of here as quickly as possible."

"Heidi and the boys, especially," Nathan added. "The other two young kids, too."

"I can do that," Peter nodded. "Where do I take them, though? PrimaTech?"

"That would be the best place," Meredith chimed in.

"Just to be on the safe side, make it the Odessa complex for now," he suggested, then looked at Nathan. "If that's alright with you?"

Nathan looked to Peter for a moment. "Yeah, he finally nodded, "I'm okay with that."

"I suggest we get the kids out of here, first, then you can take Pine back to Hartsdale," he ordered. "Then we need to get to Pinehearst as soon as we can."

"Got it," Peter said and left to gather his ex-sister-in-law and nephews. Nathan watched his brother go, a grim look on his face.

"Something wrong, Nathan?" Bennet asked.

"I'm just wondering how many other 'safe houses' the Company has set up like this?"

"You'd be surprised," Noah replied. "The thing is, they are usually reserved for agents traveling or surveying possible people of interest. Nothing like what has been set up here."

"Huh," Nathan chuckled.

"Something wrong?" Noah asked, interest piqued.

"Parkman was right," he replied. "You really are middle management." With that, he stalked off to say goodbye to his boys while he still had a chance.

Bennet looked after him, slightly in shock. Meredith forced herself to not laugh and headed off to the Dawson's apartment to get them ready to leave.

Twenty minutes later, Peter was ready to take the trio to Pinehearst.

"You copied Pine's ability?" Bennet asked.

Peter held up his hand and turned it to metal. "Of course," he chuckled. "Turns out he can go fully metal, too."

"We thought as much," he concurred. "He wasn't that smart, and preferred to bully people with the arms, which was usually enough."

"So, do I teleport us right into Pinehearst, outside, or what?" he asked.

Nathan and Noah shared a look. "Let's play it safe," Noah replied. "There are a couple office buildings half a mile down the road. We can cut through the woods and sneak in."

"Seems like a waste of time to me," Nathan countered.

Bennet held up his phone. "Your mother doesn't think so. She also has a surprise waiting for us."

"Well, then, let's not keep Mom waiting, shall we?" Peter said and grabbed Noah and Nathan's hands, both men then took one of Meredith's and Peter teleported them away.

* * *

Hiro Nakamura bowed before his sensei. _"I thank you for all you have taught me, honorable master," _he said in his native tongue.

"_And what do you intend to do with this knowledge, Nakamura-San?" _he asked.

"_I intend to finish a battle that a very evil man has brought upon me and my friends," _he replied.

"_Do not lose yourself to hatred, young Hiro," _he advised. _"Think with your head as well as your heart. Battles are not won on emotion alone."_

"_I...understand, sensei," he replied. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must take my leave." _He bowed in respect and vanished.

Sensei Taga smiled bitterly. _"I hope you do, my friend."_

_

* * *

_

"Ando, watch out!" Daphne yelled, pulling him out of the way of a sudden deluge of slime and...a naked man? "Ew! Who is that?" she asked.

Ando did a double take as the man looked around, wiping the slime from his face. "Doctor Suresh?" he asked.

"Wh-where am I?" he asked, disoriented.

"You _know_ him?" Daphne gasped, now recognizing him as one of the men she was sent to recruit...and recalled the chamber of horrors he had hidden in a back room.

"In a lab at Pinehearst," Ando informed him, wary of approaching and still keeping an eye on the room's other occupant. "We came to save Matt Parkman's baby and there's a monster about to kill us for it!" He kept his hands at his side, afraid his pointing would be mistaken for an attack by the beast.

Mohinder looked around. He saw a scared young blonde woman cradling a crying baby on the other side of the Japanese man, then saw a familiar face -if you could call it that- standing in the doorway.

"Leave us alone!" he ordered the creature.

"I don't think that's gonna work," Ando advised the slime-covered scientist.

"Kll mmmm," it rumbled. "Kll mmmm!"

"Did it just say-?" Daphne started.

"-kill me?" Ando finished.

"This man was one of Adam's earlier experiments," Suresh informed them, trying to get to his feet, but not having much luck in the pool of slime he was in. "He was in great pain, earlier, but honestly? I expected him to be dead, already."

"Kll mmm," the man-monster pleaded again.

Mohinder's effort to rise bore new fruit as his hand finally found something to help him up, a wooden staff. He shakily made it upright and prepared himself to follow the man's request and bash his head in, when he noticed something carved into the wood. "Faith?"

"What?" came the duet from the couple behind him.

Mohinder examined the staff. "It says 'faith'," he told them, then looked at the creature again. "I-I cannot, in good conscience-"

The man seemed to understand that the doctor was now refusing to kill him and lashed out at the trio.

"No!" Ando cried out and instinctively threw his hands up to block the beast. Red lightning streaked from his palms, hitting the man in his chest. He fell to his knees, stunned.

"What," Daphne said, "was that?"

Ando looked down at his hands in wonder. "I-I have no idea?"

"Um, Ando?" she asked in a nervous tone.

He was still staring at his hands in wonder. "Yeah?"

"Something's happening to the baby."

Mohinder looked up to the child. "Extraordinary!"

* * *

Peter's troupe arrived in a nearly empty parking lot. Looking around to get their bearings, they couldn't miss the Petrelli matriarch waiting patiently for them. Especially not when she was being berated by her blonde granddaughter.

"Do I want to ask?" Nathan inquired, placing a hand on his fuming daughter's shoulder.

"Hello, boys, Meredith," Angela greeted them. "Claire was just explaining to me why it is wrong to hold a man captive in my van," she said casually.

"What? Mom!" Peter chastised her and went to the rear of the vehicle, Noah and Meredith following in curiosity. He saw the man was hooked up to some sort of IV, so he climbed in and checked the man's pulse out of instinct. "Do I want to know what he's doing here?" he asked his mother as the others came around to the rear of the van.

"This is Rene's brother, the self-styled Baron Samedi," she explained. Peter shook his head in slight disgust, knowing she had tricked him into copying another ability. He considers himself invulnerable in ability and politically, back in Haiti. He's nothing but a common thug, a drug dealer and slave trader."

"How can he be a slave trader?" Claire asked without thinking. "He's already bl-"

"Girls," Nathan said, cutting her off before she embarrassed herself and the others further. "He sells girls into the sex trade, doesn't he, mom?"

"Mm," she agreed with disgust. She looked to Peter. "The fact is, you might need his ability to survive this fight," she informed him as he began to climb out of the van.

"Looks like I didn't have much of a choice, did I?" he retorted. "If we're done here, let's go save the world," he insisted, "again."

"Not Claire," she's played her part," Angela told them. "She no longer has an ability. She would only be a hindrance."

Nathan and Noah turned to her in shock. "Is this true?" Noah inquired.

"Claire, if you can't even heal yourself like you used to, my mother is right," Nathan informed her, throwing an annoyed look to Angela. "You would only be a liability."

She pointed to her adoptive father. "What about you? You don't have an ability!" she accused.

"No, but I do have years of training," he countered. "Knowledge of how these powers work," he informed her before adding, "and a gun."

"So give me a gun!" she demanded. "I want to help!"

Peter stepped up to her. "Claire, no. Sometimes the best thing you can do is stay out of a fight and help pick up the pieces when it's all over," he cautioned her.

"I don't care!" she fumed. "I want to-"

In a flash of light, the parking lot lay empty.

* * *

As they entered Pinehearst, Gabriel motioned to the Haitian. "We're not going to have a problem with you blocking our powers, are we?"

"No. Not as long as you behave yourselves," he cautioned.

"Remind me how I let myself get talked into this again?" Doyle groused to Elle.

"Come on, Puppet Man, this'll be fun!" she boasted as she pressed the button for the elevator.

As the doors slid closed, a flash of light erupted from within. An empty lift opened on the upper floor.

* * *

Before anyone else could move, Hiro Nakamura appeared before them, still dressed in his training gi. He took in the people around him before taking a defensive stance toward the frozen Adam. "Am I too late?" he asked Matt.

"It's been a long time, Mr. Nakamura," Arthur greeted him. Hiro shifted his posture toward the older man.

"Hey, hey, the gang's all here," Knox quipped as he readied himself for a fight. "What up, Parkman?"

"Hiro, we have to get out of here, now," Matt cautioned.

"Not so fast, Mr. Parkman," Arthur said. "Don't you want to see what I have in mind for-"

He stopped in mid-sentence as a flash of light erupted. Left behind were a quintet of people. Matt and Daphne and Hiro and Ando called out each others' names in surprise. Matt was glad to see she held his son, but leery of the slime-covered Mohinder and all appeared in shock at the misshapen creature at their feet.

Matt looked to his son in surprise. "Is he-Is he getting _bigger_?" he asked in astonishment. "W-What-?"

"What's going on here?" Arthur demanded.

Matt strode toward Daphne and his son, but suddenly found he was having trouble moving closer, as if fighting his way through molasses. "What's happening?" he asked as the room became awash once more in a blinding light.

Everyone blinked, unsure of where they were as the light died down. The sun shone down on the grassy plain as they took stock of where they were, they realized everyone they knew had been pulled to their current location.

Mohinder, at least, was glad to see that he was no longer naked, having been dressed in one of his favorite shirts from back home, as well as some pants and sandals. He even still carried the cane he had grabbed in the lab. He was suddenly distracted by a young, familiar, and obviously overjoyed voice.

"Matt! Mohinder!" Molly cried out, running to her two foster fathers.

Mohinder hugged her as he turned to find Matt in the crowd. He was surprised at how many people were here, young and old alike. "What's going on? What happened here?" he asked.

"I have no clue, buddy," Matt replied as he surveyed the crowd for Daphne and his son. He finally spotted her beside the last person he expected. She was kneeling over the body of his ex-wife. "Daph? Jan?" he asked, not believing what he was seeing.

"Matt? Are you okay?" came a grizzled voice behind him.

Matt spun to see the last person he really expected. "_Dad?_ But you're-?"

"Oh please, that was my escape from Adam," he informed his only child before turning serious. "Where's the baby?" Maury asked. "Where's your son? Is he safe?"

"I-I don't know," Matt said and headed towards his wife. "Last I saw, Daphne had him, and he-I don't know." He knelt down opposite Daphne. "Is she okay?" he asked her.

"Should be," Maury replied. "I just had to make her sleep when she saw, well, speedy here taking off with Matty."

The blonde speedster gave them a guilty look. "I don't know where he is," she said. "One second, he's in my arms, the next, we're here and-?" She threw up her arms in defeat. "I don't know," she repeated quietly.

Matt looked down to Janice. "Jan? wake up, honey, it's me. It's Matt." He didn't notice his father bow his head in concentration behind him before she stirred. "Jan?"

She looked around, dazed before focusing on Matt. "Matt? Where are-? The baby! Where's Matty?"

Matt glanced up to Daphne before answering. "I...We don't know, honey," he said, voice cracking.

"Matt? Are you okay?" he heard a small, familiar voice behind him, quickly followed by another familiar voice.

"Molly, don't," Mohinder cautioned as she went to hug her hero. "It's-"

"Too late," Matt finished with a chuckle as he hugged the pre-teen back. "Hi, honey, how are you?"

"Matt? Who is this?" Janice asked, looking at the little girl in astonishment. Matt fumbled for the words.

Elsewhere, the Petrelli's convened with each other. Nathan pulled his sons to him, protectively. Arthur regarded his sons and wife, coolly. "Hello again, Angela. Boys."

"Dad? What's going on? We thought you were dead?" Peter accused, trying to maintain his cool.

Arthur smiled and looked to his wife. "I almost was, if not for my granddaughter," he admitted.

"You're the one who took Claire's powers?" Nathan asked.

Arthur nodded. "Guilty as charged. It was necessary, son."

"Necessary for what, dad?" he asked, sarcastically. "You were dead to the world, what did it matter if you really were?" he accused. His own sons shuddered behind him in fear.

"What's done is done," he said simply, looking to his wife. "Why not call a truce until we figure out where we are and how to get back?"

Elsewhere, Adam Monroe and Samson Gray surveyed the scene. "What have you done now, Adam?" the bearded man inquired.

"Me? I haven't done anything," he protested. "Arthur burned me, then I found myself frozen. The next thing I know, here we are," he said as he zeroed in on Hiro. "Excuse me, I need to talk to Carp."

Samson grabbed his arm. "Adam, don't," he cautioned. "There are too many unknowns at play, here."

"You would know about unknowns, wouldn't you?" Gabriel asked as he approached the pair. "Isn't that right, dad?"

"Gabriel? You're here, too?" he asked in astonishment.

"It seems all our masks have fallen away," the younger Gray noted.

The various discussions and reunions fell silent as a glowing light descended on the crowd. As the light faded, a small being came into view. He wore a simple robe and his eyes glowed.

"Greetings, all," he said. "I have observed your gathering and have made my judgments."

Matt stepped forward. "M-Matty? Is that you?"

"We share similar genetics, yes," he answered, seemingly disinterested. He then addressed the crowd. "Prepare to be judged."

"Judged?" Matt questioned. "What? How? Matty, if that really is you, stop this. Stop this right now!" he demanded.

The child focused on his father once more and the burly man collapsed. "Silence."

Everyone present seemed to stiffen, as the child connected with them. "Adam Monroe," he called out. "You are self-centered and petty. Your gift could have benefited mankind. You could have led them to greatness, but instead, you only hid yourself, manipulating others to do your dirty work for you. You are not worthy." Adam cried out and collapsed.

He turned to another. "Arthur Petrelli, you have wasted your talents on petty and jealous schemes that have endangered the world. Your family has tried to reach out to you time and again, but you have denied them. You are not worthy." Arthur cried out and collapsed.

"Samson Gray, you are equally guilty of crimes against your fellow man and those with abilities. You have killed many in a selfish pursuit of power, which has slowly killed you until recently. You disguise yourself in order to please those who have granted you this reprieve, but you still waste the talents you have. You pretend to act in the chance of giving your son the redemption he does not deserve. You are not worthy." Samson stood proud and defiant before he doubled over in pain and collapsed.

"Stop this!" Peter cried out. "Who are you to judge us?"

The child turned to him and smiled. "This is what I am meant to do, Peter. You have been the one to reach out, willing to sacrifice yourself for strangers and family alike. Even now, you still worry about rescuing a woman lost in time. You care for your fellow man. Your outburst is proof of that. You have nothing to worry about."

He turned to another. "Benjamin Washington, also known as Knox. You were given opportunities to change your life, yet you continue the path of the weak, the bully. Matt Parkman tried repeatedly to show you there was another way, a better way. You played him for a fool and renounced him at the first chance you had. You feed off fear for your own ends. You are not worthy." Knox cried out and collapsed.

"Tracy Strauss," he turned to the blonde woman. "You manipulated your way into power and trust no one. You have feared what you have become and let that fear control your actions. The man you accidentally killed in fear has perverted you even further. You were given the opportunity to reach out to a family you never knew existed, but have shunned them for lesser men of so-called power. You are not worthy."

"Hiro Nakamura," he called out. The young samurai stepped forward nervously. "You have tried to be honorable, yet keep being called to darkness."

"I try to do the right thing," he protested. "For my friends, for the future."

"You have begat the vilest man among you, you have even now trained yourself to be hard and closed your heart to perform dark deeds."

"He couldn't kill me," Gabriel Gray spoke up.

The child turned toward the serial killer. "You have destroyed many for personal gain."

"And Mr. Nakamura tried to stop me on several occasions, yet he hesitated to kill me, for the greater good," Gabriel countered, then chuckled to himself. "Of course, I didn't really give him the chance to finish the job, did I?" he noted, tossing a good-humored smirk to the young man.

"He is evil! He killed his mother! He was going to destroy New York City!" Hiro protested.

"No. That was never my intention," Gabriel said, anger seeping in. "My mother tried to destroy me, denying I was special after telling me all my life I was. She attacked me, I was merely defending myself when-when I...I never meant to," he said, voice breaking.

"Gabriel Gray, you lead an unimportant life until you encountered Chandra Suresh," he declared. "At that point, you began a spree of murders in order to gain more. More abilities, more power, more identity. Even when those abilities were wiped clean, you immediately went out in search of more, blaming it on a 'Hunger' that existed only in your mind."

"It was my ability!" he protested. "I thought I was in control of it, but it controlled me."

"You allowed it to control you."

"It was like an addiction," he protested. "With every ability I gained, the rush became more intense! Most of those I killed were wasting their abilities, anyway. The world was better off without them. They hid away, denied their power to change the world."

"Like Molly's parents?" Mohinder finally spoke up.

Gabriel glanced to the scientist and the small girl cowering behind him. He sensed she was more afraid of Matthew than him at the moment. "James Walker was a low-level accountant with the ability to-"

"And her mother?"

Gabriel sighed. "Okay. You got me. She was just in the way. Wrong place, wrong time." He looked to Molly. "I'm sorry about that."

"What about the officers you killed when you went after her the second time?" Mohinder accused. "She was in police custody and you killed good men and nearly forced Audrey Hanson to kill herself if not for Matt's interference."

"What about Jackie Wilcox?" Claire asked. "She took my claim to saving that fireman, so you went after her first. What would you have done if I hadn't been there? Killed my entire cheerleading squad?"

He smirked. "Oops, my bad."

"Gabriel Gray, you were not afraid to kill those in your way," the child accused. "You have shown no remorse for your victims."

"I am trying to make amends for that, now," he pleaded. "If you would only give me the ch-"

"Silence!" the child demanded. "You are not worthy." Gabriel shuddered and collapsed.

"NO!" Elle screamed and let out a volley of lightning. It never reached the child.

"Elle Bishop, you are not worthy," he declared. "You please any person who has authority over you. Your father, Noah Bennet, Gabriel Gray, who you also helped twist into the serial killer Sylar. You have shown little remorse for your actions and would be considered a borderline sociopathic personality. You are not worthy."

"No! I tried to make it up to Gabriel!" she protested before collapsing.

"Stop! Stop this, right now!" Claire shouted.

He turned to her. "Claire Bennet, you are not worthy."

"W-what?" she gasped.

"You have proven yourself to be self-centered and petty, despite attempts to prove otherwise, it was all for your own ends," he declared and raised his hand toward her. "Even when your ability has been removed, you prove yourself to be self-centered-"

"No! Matthew, stop this, right now!"

The child looked to his grandfather. "Maury Parkman, you are not worthy."

"Tell me something I don't know," he replied. "How many of us _are_ worthy? Huh?" he asked. "All of us have skeletons in our closets, but they make us who we are. We have to do bad things, sometimes, but sometimes, it's for the greater good, yeah? Can you understand that?"

The child remained silent. He looked to Angela. "You plotted to destroy a city with millions of inhabitants. You were willing to sacrifice your own children to ensure that happened. You are not worthy."

"Stop this!" Maury demanded. "Yes! We know what she did! She saw it was coming and we acted to control the damage, keep as few as we could from getting hurt! Can you understand that? It was all for the greater good!"

"This is for the greater good."

"I abandoned my _family_, I left your _father_ behind, for the greater good," he shouted. "So I could stop people from becoming a menace like you are, Matthew," he pleaded. "So help me, don't make me do this!"

"Matthew, please!" Janice finally cried out. "You're just a child! My child! You don't know what you're doing!"

"Janice Parkman, you have betrayed your husband more than once. You are not-"

"I am your _mother_," she said, defiantly. "You will stop this, right now."

"You are not worthy," he repeated.

"You are the one who is not worthy," she countered. "Who gave you the authority to do this? What have you done to these people? To your own father?"

He floated there, silent. "I have absorbed all these abilities, reviewed all the memories of those present," he finally announced. "These people judge themselves. I merely carry out the sentence."

"Then you are not worthy," Angela informed him. He gave her a curious look. "You accuse me of plotting to destroy a city, but you act to destroy _humanity_."

"I do not."

"You're nothing but a child, Matthew," she accused. "A few hours ago, you were nothing but an infant. But now? Now you age before our very eyes. You act like a child, declaring who is right and who is wrong and must be punished. Judge yourself."

He seemed to consider this a moment. "They judge themselves," he repeated. "Their judgment is not mine, but their own, their sentence fits their crimes."

Daphne rushed to Molly, whispering. "It's you. You're the one who can stop this. You're the one who has the connection to Matt. He's jealous of you."

"What do I do?" she asked.

"We wake Matt up," Daphne smiled as they rushed to the unconscious man's side. "Matt? Matt, can you hear me?" she shook him.

"Please, Matt, you have to help," Molly begged, taking his large hand I her tiny ones. "You have to stop Matthew."

There was no response, except from the wrong Matthew.

"What are you doing?" he asked them.

"Stopping you," Daphne said, standing defiant.

"Daphne Millbrook, you are not worthy," he declared.

"Worthy of what?" she asked. "I spent my life crippled, practically trapped, unable to walk properly. What do you know of that? Huh?" she demanded. "Matt's a good guy. He gave me a second chance without questions when no one else would. He believed in me. Personally? I find it hard to believe you're his son."

"You are a thief and a liar," he accused her.

"I'll admit I did some bad, selfish things, but you're doing the same thing, right now," she countered. "You're stealing away these powers, somehow. You're taking their lives. You lie when you say they judge themselves, when it's you. It's all you."

"I have read their minds like I have read yours and-"

"And what?"

He looked from her to his father, glaring at the young girl who knelt beside him.

"No, that is a lie," he said. "He doesn't love you, he wants to believe a lie, a false future, because-" he turned to his mother "-because the one he wanted was denied him."

"He left me," Janice informed her son. "He left _us_ because he was too scared to face the truth," she cried. "He just found out about all of this and was scared of it, of what _he_ could do, of what _you_ could be capable of," she told him. "He was afraid for the both of you."

"That's a lie!" he screamed.

"That's the truth," Angela said, approaching him. "My own son has done it to his children, just as your grandfather did it to your father. They were scared of the responsibility of raising someone who might be too powerful. Someone who would usurp their claim on the world. That is the way it has always been. Fathers afraid of their sons, and afraid the sons will repeat their fathers' sins."

Matthew raised his hand. "You lie and manipulate others for your own personal gain. You are un-"

"You're unworthy, kid."

Matthew stopped and looked to his father in surprise.

"These people hail you as perfect, but you are far from it," the boy informed him. "Your wife seems to agree."

"Yeah, well, we didn't always see eye to eye," he admitted. "Sorry, Jan."

"Even you agree with her that you are unworthy," he told his father. "Don't you find that odd?"

"Heh. She's always been after me about that," he said, sparing a glance to his son's mother.

"Some of them seem to think you are the only one who can stop me from what I must do," he informed his father. "Why is that? You barely trust yourself, but you seem to bring it out in others."

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm a people person," he shrugged, hoping the others were right. "Why do you think you are the one to judge others? You're only a few months old."

"They judge themselves," he repeated.

"And you don't see anything wrong with carrying out their sentences?"

"No, they carry out their own sentences. I merely allow them to do so."

"That's not right."

"You have run away from responsibility. That is not right."

"I've made mistakes, Matthew. So you didn't have to repeat them," he countered. "But this? Where the hell are we, anyway?"

"A safe place. Away from prying eyes."

"Away from any means of escape, don't you mean?" he accused. "Are you going to judge all of us? Even the kids? Molly and-and Nathan's kids? Micah? What are you doing, Matthew? And who judges you?"

"I am the innocent. I cannot be judged."

"No. No. You are no longer innocent. You have caused harm to some of these people, whether they deserve it or not."

"You cannot be trusted to judge me, you are my father."

"That's right, and that's what gives me the right to judge you. Stop this right now, Matthew."

"I cannot."

"You can not or will not?"

Matthew stayed silent, hovering, glowing.

"Answer me!"

Usutu stepped forward. "If I may, Park-Man?" he said before facing the boy. "What I showed your father in Africa? The possible future with the blonde woman? That will not pass. No future will pass unless you stop this, right here, right now."

"You have no right, here, Usutu," Matthew replied. "You admit you lied to my father. How do we know you are not lying, now? You would say anything to stop me."

"No, not say, show," Usutu said and turned to Mohinder. "Give him my staff."

The Indian scientist had almost forgotten he still carried it, but did as he was told. He approached the child and laid the staff down in front of the boy.

"Pick it up," Usutu ordered.

Matthew cocked his head at the bald man.

"Pick it up," Matt echoed.

Matthew made a slight motion and the wood raised into his hand.

"Tell me what you think of it," Usutu asked.

Matthew seemed to study it. "It is nothing. An ancient branch off an ancient tree."

"As are all things," he replied. "But how do you know that?"

"I can see it's origins. I fold back time on this thing and I-" He hesitated. "I see-"

"What do you see, child?"

He looked to Mohinder, then Ando and Daphne. "I see three strangers willing to act on my behalf because of a man. A man they call friend."

"Why is that?"

"They wish to help save me from evil deeds."

"Why?"

"Because-"

"Answer us, Matthew," his father demanded.

"Because they place their hope in me that I can make a better world," he replied. "That is what I am doing."

"No. No, you are not, young man. There is more to this world than you have seen, than you can imagine, more than you can experience," Angela scolded him. "By stopping us, you deprive the world of the same chance your father's friends wanted you to have."

"I am not wrong," he told her.

"By doing this, you are not right," she countered.

"Do you know what your father and his friends have?" Usutu asked him. "You hold it in your hands."

The boy looked down at the stick again. "What is 'faith'?"

"Faith is what you need to find before you judge others," Maury told him. "I had to have faith my son would find his own way, just as he hopes you can still find yours."

He looked at Usutu. "I am sorry."

"For what, child?"

"I can see the past of this stick as well as the future. For that, I am sorry."

This piqued Matt's interest. "What? What's he talking about? Usutu?"

"There are many paths to walk, Park-Man."

"What? No. No-no-no-no-no. No. What are you talking about?"

"Beginnings and endings, Park-Man."

"He does not understand," Matthew replied.

"He will, in time."

Janice stepped forward. "What's going on? What are you talking about?"

"I am sorry," Matthew told her. "I will attempt to understand by going back to the beginning of it all."

"The beginning of what?" Matt demanded.

Janice gasped. "Matthew, what-?"

"I believe the word for it is 'Ouroboros'? I will see you in time."

"What? What's that mean?" Matt demanded.

"Matthew, no!" Mohinder yelled, realizing what the child was talking about. "Please! Stay and-"

"All will be well, in time," he said and vanished.

Janice screamed after her son. Matt could only pull her into him in an attempt to console her. He turned to look at his one-time roommate. "What did he mean? What was that word, 'Aura brass'? Mohinder, please?" he begged.

"Ouroboros, Matthew," he corrected. "He was talking about a time loop, like a Moebius strip. Something with no beginning or ending." His voice trailed off as he was realizing something. "My god, I think he meant to go back and see how it all began?"

"W-what are you talking about, Mohinder?"

"He's gone, Matthew," Angela said, approaching the couple. "I can't say whether he will ever return."

"Matt? What is she talking about?" Janice cried.

"We-We've lost him, Jan," he cried. "We lost our baby." He hugged her tight as she collapsed in his arms, alternating between sobbing and raging at him.

* * *

**Epilogue 1**

Maury motioned the others away, including Mohinder and Molly. He went to Angela, Nathan, and Peter, next. "Alright, then, any idea where this 'safe place' really is?" he asked. "Peter?"

He shook his head. "No clue, only Matthew knew for sure and he's no longer here, is he?"

"You didn't get a read off him, before?" the portly man inquired.

Peter shook his head. "I tried, but he was blocking me. If he really did copy all out powers, then he was using Rene's to block any telepathy."

"You can't use your abilities now to figure out where we are?" Angela asked her son.

"Hiro and I can do the time and space thing, but we need a starting point for reference, which is one thing we don't really have," he explained. "I never thought about it before, but it helps knowing when and where you are before going where you want to be."

"What are you talking about, Pete?" Nathan asked.

"Like your Navy jet's flight computers, they have built in coordinate systems when you hit the auto-pilot, right?" he asked. Nathan nodded. "It's like that, in that we know where we are and use that as a reference to get where we want to go," he explained.

"Speaking of my old Navy jet, how about a little aerial recon then, bro?" Nathan prodded before lifting off. Peter shrugged and flew up, himself, looking for any recognizable landmark.

"So what about our other problem?" Maury asked as he and Angela watched her sons sweep back and forth in the sky. "Arthur, Adam, and the others? Do you think my grandson really shut them down?"

"Only if we were really lucky," she quipped, surveying those remaining standing. "Hold on, where did that other black man go, the one your son knew?"

Maury glanced around. "I have no idea. You don't think Matty took him along, do you?"

They shared a concerned look. They would never know the answer.

* * *

**Epilogue 2 **

Time moved on as it always does. Matt and Janice tried to reconcile, but the loss of Matthew was the final wedge in their relationship. He tried to remain friends, but she shut him out.

He tried to move on with his life, but the LAPD refused to rehire him. Nathan finally took him on as head of security once he had finally taken over Pinehearst and made it the government branch for the emerging Specials like themselves. In fact, Nathan hired on most of their friends as the Company went public, trying to quell any backlash against the more dangerous types that people like Adam, Arthur, Sylar, and even Knox turned out to be, saving them from being branded "terrorists" as a whole.

It turned out to be better than they had hoped. Peter had warned them about the Formula getting out, so they destroyed what remained along with any notes. The only Specials that emerged were those born with natural talents. The handful of injected like Nathan and Tracy were few and far between.

It was ten years before Matt stopped actively looking for his son, but he still scanned any new Special activity for hints of his whereabouts. He had lost Daphne to Peter, but held them no ill will, and eventually found someone else to settle down with himself. Molly was thrilled to be a big sister when the time came a few years later.

He still waited and watched, though.

After Matt finally hit sixty did he begin to lose hope of ever finding some sign of his son. He sat on his back deck overlooking the Pacific one night a few years later, having a glass of wine when what he thought was a shooting star made an abrupt turn and headed for him.

At first, he assumed Nathan, Peter, or another flying Special was playing a practical joke, but that changed when the man stopped short and stood hovering just beyond reach of the deck.

"Where ya been?" he asked conversationally, as if they had just seen each other a short time ago, while taking in the fact the young man was dressed in a toga.

"All over, from the beginning of civilization to, well, you wouldn't believe what the human race will be capable of, one day."

Matt smiled and raised his glass in a toast. "You'd be surprised."

"It turns out, all those old myths? More than a few of them are true," he winked.

The senior Parkman laughed. "So who are you supposed to be, dressed like this?"

"Oh, you know, Apollo, Prometheus, Thor," he chuckled.

"Really?" the older man asked. The man nodded. "No, I don't want to see your hammer," Matt teased.

The younger man's face grew serious. "I'm sorry I took so long, Dad," he said. "I'm glad you never gave up your faith in me."

Tears of joy streamed down Matt's face as he reached out and hugged his long lost son. "I've missed you so much, for so long."

"Dad, I-"

"Matthew," he whispered in his son's ear, "I never stopped hoping-" He paused and grunted.

"Dad?"

"She never forgave me, after that day," he panted. "Honestly, I didn't blame-unh..."

"Dad? Are you al-?"

"Matthew," he gasped and clutched his chest, only to find his son's hand already covering his heart. He grasped his hand tight. "I-I wish I could have been there-" He continued telepathically, "_been there to see you grow up into the man you are."_

"Dad, I can help!" His hand started to glow. He felt his father's system react, rejecting his healing.

"No, Matthew," he panted, his chest seizing up. "I just want you to know-I always-gkk!" He couldn't catch his breath, his extremities began tingling, but he kept up a brave face. "_-always loved you, Matty. Nev-Never gave up hope-I'd see you before-"_

"Dad!" he shouted, but he could already see the life draining away in his eyes. "NO!"

Matt Parkman stared up at the tear-filled eyes of his firstborn and namesake. His lip forcing itself into a smile. _"I love you, Matthew...never forget-"_

_

* * *

_

**Epilogue 3 - 2469**

"-never forget that was how the Age of Wonders really began," the teacher told her class. "What the Twelve Founders had established in the late 20th Century with PrimaTech is what led to the Helix Revolution at the beginning of the early 21st when their children and grandchildren decided it was time to stop hiding what they could do from the world."

One of the children raised his hand. "Ms. Butler, how can we know for sure? Isn't History just more GoodFacts written by those in Political Power?"

"The MICAH-net system is a pretty hard AI to hack," she chuckled. "Besides, I have it on pretty good authority that these are TruFacts, Rhys," she smiled.

"Did you know someone who was there?" his brother, Ianto Cooper inquired.

"Actually, yes. Yes, I do," she replied. "I knew most of them. As a matter of fact, I was there, and so was your Principal." The students weren't sure whether to believe her, despite the fact they had a psychometrist and truth reader present in their midst.

The school administrator sitting in on her class winked at her from the back of the room. Even after all these centuries, she was still amazed at how much Matthew reminded her of his father. That was why she married him over a century and a half ago.

Claire wouldn't have it any other way.

**The End...?**


End file.
